I beg to move,

That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make further provision in relation to child care facilities in Wales, and for connected purposes.

There are people who believe that poverty is a fact of life, and there are people who believe that many should live in poverty because that is the way of the world. I profoundly disagree, as I believe that poverty is not some mysterious dispensation that descends from heaven on some families and not on others. I also believe that one of the first duties of Government is to try to tackle the inequalities between rich and poor, between rich countries and poor countries and between rich areas and poor areas of a country. It is particularly important to tackle the inequity that is child poverty.

I believe that the single best means that Governments have of tackling child poverty is to enable parents—whether they be lone parents or happily married or cohabiting couples—to work. I think so for two main reasons. First, work brings money into the household, and what better way is there to tackle poverty than by ensuring that money is available in the household? I am glad that the Government have done so much over recent years—through child tax credits, working tax credits and the national minimum wage—to make sure that work pays. Secondly, it is also important for parents to be able to work because it gives them the social contact that is essential for their families to flourish.

The statistics clearly support my case. International figures for child poverty and parents in work show a remarkable correlation. The country with the lowest level of child poverty is Sweden, with only 4.2 per cent. of children growing up in child poverty. What is the number of women with children in work in that country? It is 76.6 per cent.—70 per cent. of women with children under three and 80 per cent. with children over three. That shows a clear correlation because Sweden is the country with the highest proportion of mothers in work and the lowest proportion of children living in poverty.

In the United States of America, on the other hand, merely 58 per cent. of women with children are in work and 21.9 per cent. of children grow up in poverty. Sadly, Britain is closer to the American level than to the Swedish level, with 57 per cent. of women with children in work and 15.4 per cent. of children growing up in poverty. When the Government came to power, we were at the bottom—the absolute bottom—of the league for child poverty in Europe. I believe that that was because there was systematic ignorance and deliberate carelessness about child poverty on the part of previous generations of Governments. I am glad that we have managed to lift ourselves from the bottom of the league, but we are still only half way up. That is why I want us to tackle, with increased energy, the issue of child care provision, particularly in Wales.

I am proud of some things that the Government have done. I am proud of Sure Start and how its rolling out made it possible for many parents to get into work. I am proud of the additional 23,000 child care places introduced in Wales over the past eight years. I am proud of the £12.5 million of European Union structural funds that have been secured to spend on child care in Wales. I am proud, particularly in respect of the Rhondda, of Flying Start—the new scheme now coming on track, whereby significant extra resources of health visitors are being provided. As well as making a difference on child care, we need to ensure that parents with health problems have the support that they need to get into work. Also important are free part-time child care for the poorest members of our community and tackling deprivation in the poorest wards in my constituency. I am proud of all of that.

Very significant problems remain, however. There is still not enough child care available. Quite simply, there are not enough places for everyone who wants to go to work to place their child in proper child care. There are many reasons for that. One is that child care is not greatly valued in society, which is why it is still not valued highly as a career. Many of the people working in child care are on the national minimum wage. At a time of relatively high levels of employment and relatively low levels of unemployment, alternative careers are available, which has made it difficult to recruit people to work in child care.

There is also a significant problem with buildings. Should we not have a sense of shame about the fact that very few Members could cite a single child care building that was expressly built for that purpose? In other countries, many thousands of buildings were expressly built for that purpose, yet we end up using buildings that were built in the 19th century for completely different purposes.

The cost of child care is still prohibitive for many parents, which makes it difficult for them to make the choice to work. There is still a lack of flexibility. Many child care facilities insist that parents have to use them for a full week rather than just two days. Parents say that they want only part-time child care and if they cannot have it, they cannot decide to go into work. We need to meet more accurately the pattern of work by which people live their lives. That often means making provision close to home and close to places of work. Many people in the Rhondda who may work in Cardiff, Newport, Swansea or elsewhere need very flexible arrangements if they are to take the opportunity of going into work.

We also need to make it possible to cope with crises. Many lone parents who have courageously gone off benefits and into work with excitement and glee are able to cope with the expected crises of the year, such as school holidays, because members of their extended family may be able to help. What is really difficult for them to cope with, however, is the unexpected crisis, when a child or parent is ill. That is why the new idea espoused by the Welsh Assembly Government, to which Labour is committed in its manifesto for Wales, is so important. I refer to the idea of having mobile mammas who will be able to provide the crisis support for child care at the moments when lone parents really need it. It will make a dramatic difference in the years to come.

Sometimes child care provision does not feel as inclusive of every young parent as it might. One young parent told me that it was great going along to many of the new facilities and everyone was very welcoming, but it sometimes felt like a gathering of the middle classes. Everyone was chatting away about how to cultivate organic pears, but they did not seem to have a proper understanding of how child care might fit their particular personal needs. We need to go much further in making child care available, particularly to those who have gone forward with teenage pregnancies.

Two very important principles are relevant. First, there should be no compulsion. We should not be forcing every single parent to put their child into child care and go into work, but we certainly should make it possible for every single parent to have that option. Also, child care should not mean just warehousing. Some people have been concerned about recent reports suggesting that children who have grown up in child care that effectively places babies in a row and leaves them there for several hours turn out to have more social problems later in life than others who did not go through that.

The role of the mother will always be vital in bringing up a child, and child care should not be an alternative to the role of the mother. It is vital that every child learn the difference between a frown and a smile from one person, and the primary person in that role will always be the mother. But it is important, too, that we give opportunities for people to go into work. It is absolutely vital that we get this right. We should not have a stop-start approach to child care; there should not be a new idea every two or three years, because we must introduce a generational change.

I wholly support the Welsh Assembly’s idea of mobile mammas, because that will make it much easier for young mums in particular to cope with crises. It is important that we investigate whether we should have a universal right to child care, as parents enjoy in Sweden. It is important that we have a recruitment campaign to ensure that more people have access to child care. Finally, there are 1,420 lone parents on benefit in the Rhondda. We must not fail them, and we must not fail their children either.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill ordered to be brought in by Chris Bryant, Jessica Morden, Julie Morgan, Mrs. Moon, Chris Ruane, Ian Lucas, Albert Owen, Alun Michael and Mr. David.

Childcare Provision (Wales)

Chris Bryant accordingly presented a Bill to make further provision in relation to childcare facilities in Wales; and for connected purposes: And the same was read the First time; and ordered to be read a Second time on Friday 19 October, and to be printed [Bill 91].