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Welfare Reform Bill

The noble Baroness raises an important point. We have so far talked about childcare largely as it relates to the under-sevens and the early years, which we must all recognise is a crucial period in the child’s life. But we must surely ask what we mean by "childcare". It is simply unrealistic to talk about it just in the context of somewhere for the child to go and watch the television day in, day out eating noodles out of a pot. It is also unrealistic to expect teenagers to go where they are told to go; they have got to go where they want to go; there have got to be activities for them. Anyone who has worked in this area must be perfectly conscious that most of the youth clubs have closed and most of the playing fields have been sold off, and that extended schools are simply not a reality, yet, in terms of providing facilities for children of that age. It is of the utmost importance that we take the opportunity of introducing a suitable amendment—the drafting of the amendment is fascinating: it is a quadruple negative—to suggest that parents have this right. After all, when children get to even nine, 10 or 11 years old, if they have a latch-key, they start looking on their computer or on the television for all the sorts of rubbish—not only rubbish but the positively evil material—that is available to them. They are then on the streets; they do not have anybody to guide them; they do not have anything to do; they form gangs and start to get drunk; and so we have domestic violence and many of the problems that we have with our young people today. What are going to do about that? What are we going to do about parents who work perhaps at weekends or in the holidays who are not in a position to give guidance and some measure of supervision to their child?