Liberal Democrats answer workingmums' questions

Date: 2 Feb 2010

The Liberal Democrats have recently announced changes to their childcare plans as well as to tax credits. In the lead-up to an election in which they may be the power brokers, we put some working mums' questions to Annette Brooke, the Liberal Democrats spokesperson for Children, Schools and Families, on the issues that concern you. Here are her replies:

1. What is the Liberal Democrats' policy on Sure Start?

We are strongly supportive of Sure Start and indeed had a similar policy in our manifesto before it was taken up by the Labour Government. We do think the latter part of the programme has probably been rolled out too quickly and that, as a consequence, money has not always been used as efficiently as it should have been. The challenge now is for Sure Start centres to focus their resources on improving their outreach work so that the families most in need get that extra support.

2. I have heard your party would limit working families tax credits. Which families which now benefit from them would be excluded?

We would be certain to ensure that no one receiving more than the family element of child tax credit (£545) would lose out. But those on higher incomes would no longer receive what is essentially a means-tested benefit. All but the richest families would benefit from our plans to make sure there will be no income tax on the first £10k of earnings.

3. I understand you are proposing to cut back working families tax credits. Have you any plans for alternative ways of subsidising childcare since the UK has the highest childcare costs in Europe, according to the Daycare Trust, and this is a major reason many women cannot afford to work?

It is so important that the requirement for affordable high quality childcare is met. For many women the choice of going back to work means that they end up out of pocket as they struggle to cover childcare costs from their wages. That is why our long-term proposals for 19 months of shared parental leave followed by 20 hours of universal childcare would make it easier for parents to return back to work and not have to financially cripple themselves in the process. This would involve extra expenditure of over £3billion per year. Unfortunately, we do not believe current conditions will permit this level of extra expenditure during the next Parliament.

4. What are you plans for childcare vouchers?

We would keep childcare vouchers; we were opposed to the Government’s plans to scrap them. There is a need to make sure those most in need of support with childcare get what they need, but phasing out vouchers before suitable alternative arrangements were in place would be unfair to all the people who rely on them. The way the Government announced this proposal was set to make life very difficult for many parents struggling to pay for childcare.

5. Why are you proposing to cut child trust bonds?

We believe that with the current budget deficit as it is, it is necessary to stop the Government locking away half a billion pounds a year in Child Trust Funds. Money instead needs to be spent now to improve the outcomes for disadvantaged children. In the current climate, tough choices have to be made, but we are being honest with people. Our priority is to get the economy back on track and ensure every child gets a fair start in life by giving schools extra money to cut class sizes and provide individual support.

6. Do you have any proposals to increase the range of after school and holiday activities for children? I live in a rural area where there are few after school facilities and those there are cost a fortune. Why does there have to be a postcode lottery in after school activities?

Accessing these activities in rural areas can be a real struggle. Too many of the Labour government’s reforms which have funding have left children growing up in rural areas behind. Our plans to invest an extra £2.5bn in schools will make it easier for them to extend their school day and run educational activities in the holidays.

7. Does your party plan to do anything to promote flexible working, paternity leave and pay equality? I believe that if more men worked flexibly and shared paternity leave and women were paid more equally the domestic burden would not fall so disproportionately on women, meaning they have to sideline their careers and this would have a very positive impact on families.

This is something the Liberal Democrats have strongly supported throughout their policies. We believe that the choice should be given to share parenting equally, and by introducing flexible and paid parental leave we would see more of a shift in the way people work. The impetus for more flexible working has to come from somewhere and I believe that a more Scandinavian approach to parental leave and flexible working could see the beginning of that move. We would make the current arrangements fully flexible so parents can share the leave and fit it around the needs of their family. Single parents would benefit as they would be entitled to SPP payments for the full nineteen months, with the special provision that after twelve months they could return to work and still receive the money - to assist with childcare costs. Even in the current climate, it remains important to promote policies that would encourage flexible working and better shared parenting.

8. Do you think people need to be taught how to be good parents e.g. through parenting classes? What kind of support would work best to help make people better parents? I heard that the Lib Dems have criticised Labour and the Conservatives' plans for the family, saying money should go into education instead of help to tackle family break-up, but surely schools cannot be expected to cope with the impact of family break-up, which tends to have a damaging effect on school work? Teachers are not social workers, after all. Is not one of the major reasons for family break-up the incredible stress currently on parents to work all hours?

There are many policies which are in the latest Government green paper which we have had in our policy since 2006, when we passed a paper, Stronger Families, Brighter Futures. A number of these policies address the very significant issues which affect families and parents.

We have a number of measures around supporting families and we consider that doing all we can around these relationships is paramount – involving fathers at a very early stage, shared parental leave, parenting classes and when needed, relationship support. But for real long term change we need to break into the vicious cycle of poverty and we believe that can only be done through education. We feel that our Pupil Premium which would allocate additional funding to schools taking disadvantaged children would substantially shift this relationship between financial deprivation at home and educational under-achievement in the classroom.

We have been critical of the Tory commitment to the marriage tax allowance because we feel ultimately it is not the best form of support and will be of benefit to a very few. An approach which addresses the wider problems at the root would be far more beneficial to a far greater number of people. Charities such as Relate have been doing some great work in SureStart centres and we would encourage such initiatives.

9. How would the Liberal Democrats improve the quality of childcare?

The 3 objectives of affordability, flexibility and quality within childcare are difficult to reconcile. We are committed to making sure we have a high quality, well-trained child care work force, which over time must mean salaries rising. We would encourage professional development within the workforce and establish common standards across the maintained and non-maintained workforce to ensure that expertise is shared and in time we would require all staff directly involved in the care of the child to gain at least NVQ level 3 qualifications. Whilst we understand the varying requirements for childcare differ from region to region (and feel that these need to be addressed on a regional basis) we would still ensure that any local variations in the need for provision are met with robust national standards for quality. We have been very critical of the Government’s Early Years Foundation Scheme which is costly and bureaucratic and is likely to do very little when it comes to driving up the quality of provision.

10. I am worried about the increasingly competitive nature of education and its impact on children's mental health. What is the Liberal Democrats' policy on testing and on selective admissions policies?

We are also worried about these issues and, whilst we want to ensure all children have access to high quality education, we think that schools and teachers should be trusted more to make curriculum decisions and to carry out internal assessments. We have long been concerned about the over-prescriptive nature of the Early Years Foundation Stages and feel that too much testing, particularly at an early age, is often detrimental to the children and the freedoms of the teachers.

With regards selective admissions, we feel that parents should be given the widest possible set of choices when it comes to educating their children, but it is often parents and children from the poorest families who miss out. Our pupil premium, guaranteeing schools taking disadvantaged children more money, would give an added incentive for schools to take on these youngsters.

Related tags: Annette Brooke | Childcare | Flexible Working | Liberal Democrats | Tax credits