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Welfare Reform Bill

The noble Baroness, Lady Thomas, briefly touched on parents in rural communities. As I come from a very rural community, perhaps I may say a few words in support of the amendment from that point of view. Public transport in our area is almost non-existent. I think that there is a bus in the morning and a bus in the evening, not at school time, and that is it. There is nothing in between. Childcare facilities are almost non-existent. Schools are fairly far between. A lot of Church of England schools have been closed, so people would have to travel quite a distance. If a parent has one child going to school and another who is very young, she will have to do a lot of juggling to meet any timetable for training. Access to training facilities is almost non-existent. The nearest town with any colleges is seven miles away and there is no public transport to that town. The next town is 12 miles away, where there is public transport but it is not at the right time. In the past, we would have had—I benefited from it—support from grandparents. My mother did not work. Nowadays, grandparents work, so they are not there for parents to fall back on. If a child is ill and needs someone to sit with them, the grandparents are not there to do it. It is most important that parental support and the lack of disruption in the child’s life when it is tiny should be maintained. Therefore, I support the amendment.