29th June 2004
Rt Hon Andrew Smith MP
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Extended Schools Childcare Pilots mini-conference
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Good afternoon and welcome. I’m very pleased to have the opportunity to speak to you today.
With the school holidays just two or three weeks away, working parents are faced with a dilemma – childcare arrangements that perhaps work well in term time become increasingly complicated when the school holidays come along.
We’re here today to look at the innovative solutions to meet these needs, and to learn more from each other about what works – what else we can do to help hard working parents, particularly those who are taking their first tentative steps back into the workplace?
I would like to talk to you about the Government’s overall approach to childcare and the key part it plays in our welfare to work and anti-poverty strategies.
First some background.
The Government is determined to ensure every child has the best possible start in life. This means reducing the number of children living in workless households, increasing the number of lone parents in employment and reducing the number of children living in poverty.
While some lone parents choose not to work there are many who would like to work or at least have the choice of combining paid work with the vital job of being a parent.
Indeed 9 out of 10 lone parents say they want to work but are held back by key obstacles like affordable childcare or lack of confidence in the skills they have to offer an employer.
Since 1997 we have been working hard to breakdown the barriers and make it easier for people to stay in work.
We have done this by transforming the welfare system into an active system that helps people to become independent and move into work where they can, by making work pay and by removing barriers to work to make work possible.
The New Deal for Lone Parents has been a particular success. More than half of all lone parents are now in work – and as a result of the measures we’ve put in place nearly 400,000 children will have a better start in life.
We have also put policies in place – such as the National Minimum Wage – to make sure that work pays.
In addition, some 6 million families are now benefiting from the new tax credits – the Working Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit.
In practice this means that a single earner family on around half average earnings with two young children is, from April 2004 £3,790 a year better off in real terms than in 1997.
On top of this, from this October, eligible lone parents in a number of pilot areas, who move into work, will have their wages topped up by £40 a week for a year.
We are also making work possible by tackling the barriers that different individuals face to moving into and staying in work – for example we’ve increased the length of maternity leave and the level of statutory maternity pay – benefiting around 350,000 mothers each year.
Underpinning all of this is the crucial enabler of affordable, accessible and quality childcare.
Since 1997, the Sure Start Unit working with local authorities, Jobcentre Plus, primary care trusts, and local community groups have created more than 1 million new childcare places, benefiting over 1.8 million children.
We need to do even more.
That’s why we launched Extended Schools Childcare Pilots in three pilot areas – Bradford, Haringey and Lewisham – in April.
We want to learn more from these innovative areas and the good work that is already going on at a community level.
The idea is a simple one – to make better use of school facilities in and out of term time to offer childcare in a place that is convenient and that especially that parents trust.
We know from experience that schools are a good focus for partnership working. They have the facilities, the contacts and play a central part in families lives anyway.
Already feedback is showing the powerful effects of partnership working – together you are creating additional childcare places, joining up services, and strengthening the back to work support we are giving to lone parents.
For example, in some areas you have helped influence employers to give lone parents more flexibility over working hours.
And by using the local school as a centre for childcare facilities, for community use and adult learning, as well, we are helping to regenerate and strengthen communities.
In the time remaining today I’d like to pose a few questions – I look forward to hearing your reflections in your presentations and later on this afternoon when I answer your questions.
First – what else should we be doing to extend the services we offer and make even more of a difference to more peoples’ lives?
Second – what can we do – working together – to ensure that we get the right balance of and make the best use of the available talents and resources?
And third –what have you learnt most from working in partnership? What works best? What should we be trying to do more of?
So, going back to my first question – I cannot stress enough how crucially important it is that we continue to make a difference to people’s lives, to help more lone parents help themselves and their children to have a better quality of life.
Finding work is the most important route out of poverty. Non-working families are four times more likely to experience severe hardship than those working.
We now have a comprehensive package of support to help lone parents to get back into the labour market.
And it’s working – the employment rate for lone parents is above 50 per cent for the first time ever.
But we want to do more – for example in the three areas, alongside piloting a £20 a week worksearch premium and a £40 a week in work credit we have also introduced free childcare ‘tasters’ for low-income parents.
The aim of all these policies is to build trust and confidence in using formal childcare – breaking down barriers to getting a job and helping people focus on making the move from welfare to work.
We want to encourage lone parents to enter or get closer to the labour market.
So my first question to you is what else should we be trying to do to extend the services we offer and make even more of a difference to more peoples’ lives? What would you like to see Jobcentre Plus do better? How can we be smarter in what we offer?
The Government believes that for childcare to work for those who need it – it needs to be based on partnership working and organised at a local level, taking account of local needs.
Key to helping us make this work is the leadership and support for the pilots at senior levels in local authorities.
The project teams you have established, the partnership working with Jobcentre Plus, the Childcare Partnership Managers, the advisers, the network of schools and childcare providers – all of that’s crucial.
As is the excellent work that the project teams are doing to involve local employers.
For example, Lewisham are providing after schools activities for children, whilst parents are talking about future job and training opportunities at job fairs held at the school.
And working together creates its own momentum – as we have also learnt from the wider extended schools agenda. We’ve had excellent feedback from stakeholders involved, who talk to the “feel-good factor” of having so many exciting activities and projects centred on the school – boosting the morale of everyone involved.
So, my second question to you is what can we do – working together – to ensure that we get the right balance of and make the best use of all our talents and resources?
Is there more we can do to extend support – for example, how can we help shift workers find and access the childcare they need?
The current pilots in Bradford, Haringey and Lewisham – who you will be hearing from later – are already beginning to show real results and the benefit of partnership working in tailoring service provision to the needs of the community.
We want to build on these and test whether the Extended Schools Childcare Pilots can help more parents enter employment in other locations.
Making use of facilities in the community and working with local authorities to make sure that school buildings don’t stand empty after hours and in the school holidays.
Offering even more parents a chance to work – secure in the knowledge that they have good childcare for their children. Childcare they can trust.
In January I visited Bradford and saw at first hand how the pilot has been a catalyst for the Council and Jobcentre Plus to improve the way they work together and help lone parents access the support they need across the full range of services.
That’s why four new pilots will be starting in England from this October – in Leicester, Leicestershire, Sandwell and Greenwich, and I’m very pleased that they are represented here today.
My final question is what have you learnt most from working in partnership? What works best? What should we be trying to do more of?
Conclusion
So to draw these remarks to a close – helping more parents back to work is absolutely key to realising our ambitions of full employment in every region and the eradication of child poverty.
That means making sure work pays, taking steps to give people the confidence they need, and – above all – improving the availability and accessibility of childcare.
You are amongst the first to participate this very bold and important innovation in shaping that future of childcare.
I hope this conference will help us to share best practice across providers and enable us to learn how to make the most of all the energy and skill people have to offer to meet the challenges we face.