Is current childcare policy delivering results? And how can it help to tackle child poverty?
The House of Lords Committee on Affordable Childcare will hear evidence on whether current childcare policies are working, on the day that a major new study is published. With childcare provision expected to be central to many election manifestos, the Committee will hear from the report's authors, as well as from representatives of child poverty charities.
At 10.35am, the Committee will be hear from Professor Mike Brewer, Director of MiSoC and Dr Birgitta Rabe, Senior Research Fellow, both from the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, who collected and examined the research on behalf of the Institute of Fiscal Studies.
The Committee will be asking Professor Brewer and Dr Rabe what evidence there is that the free early education entitlement for 3 and 4 year-olds is working – is it improving children's developmental outcomes? And is it helping mothers back to work? The free entitlement is a core plank of the Government's childcare strategy, which the other main parties have pledged to either continue or expand in the next parliament.
Following on, at 11.30am, the Committee will speak to the following witnesses about childcare, child poverty and social mobility:
- Javed Khan, Chief Executive, Barnardo's;
- Alison Garnham, Chief Executive, Child Poverty Action Group; and
- Helen Barnard, Policy and Research Programme Manager, Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Questions the Committee are likely to put to the panel include:
- What is the role of childcare in tackling child poverty?
- What barriers do low-income families face in accessing the childcare they need or prefer?
- Are current policies of free early education and direct subsidy to parents the best way to reduce child poverty and increase social mobility?
The evidence session will take place on Wednesday 22 October at 10.35am in Committee Room 4A of the House of Lords.
The session will be webcast at www.parliamentlive.tv and is also open to the public. Journalists wishing to attend should go to Parliament's Cromwell Green Entrance and should allow time for security screening.
