Nursery World - Lords criticise lack of detail in Childcare Bill

Peers have accused the Government of rushing through its 30-hour free childcare pledge during the second reading of the Childcare Bill.

During the debate in the House of Lords, concerns were raised about the lack of detailed information on how much the scheme would actually cost, as well as the definition of eligibility for working parents who would qualify for the extra hours.

Several peers also took issue with the timetable of the Bill’s passage through Parliament, pointing out that they would not see the results of the funding review and the consultation until after the Bill had passed through the House of Lords.

The review and the consultation will report in the autumn.

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch said, ‘The devil is in the detail and, sadly, we are being massively constrained in our scrutiny role because of the lack of fairly crucial information’.

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