The UK-wide inquiry will look at how suitable and affordable childcare can be provided for all parents who need it to enable them to work. The inquiry was announced just before Christmas, soon after the publication of Government figures that show that just under 140,000 families in England who are eligible for the Government's childcare tax credit are receiving it.
The Treasury figures, obtained by Labour MP Karen Buck, revealed that the total number of families in England receiving the childcare tax credit element of Working Families Tax Credit in May 2002 was only 138,836.
Ms Buck, who is also a member of the Work and Pensions select committee, said she was not surprised by the low figures. In the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea, part of her constituency, she said, only between 150 and 180 households were receiving the childcare tax credit.
She said, 'I am an evangelical advocate of the Working Families Tax Credit and the childcare tax credit, but I have two areas of concern - the take-up problem in inner cities and structural problems of the tax credits.
'I am concerned about its low take-up in London and the cost of childcare, as the tax credit ceilings don't go high enough.'
Megan Pacey, senior policy officer at the Daycare Trust, said she agreed with Ms Buck and added, 'The childcare tax credit has the potential to make a significant contribution, but many parents face the double whammy of being unable to find childcare and then when they can, they can't afford it because the childcare tax credit element of Working Families Tax Credit doesn't go far enough.'
Ms Pacey called for the introduction of a 'universal accessible system tailored to parents' incomes'. She said, 'In Europe no parents pay more than 30 per cent of their childcare costs, but in Britain families on low income pay at least 30 per cent of the costs, which is still too much for them, and few of them are accessing the full 70 per cent tax credit.'
The select committee inquiry will cover topics including:
* the full extent of regional variations in both availability and cost of accessing childcare.
* whether or not the childcare tax credit is working, if it is the best way to provide help for those on low incomes and what can be done to boost its take-up.
* whether the additional funding provided by the 2002 spending review is enough to ensure sufficient childcare for Government targets on child poverty and lone parent employment to be met.
* whether employers should do more to help with childcare.
* whether parents should be given more financial help to use their network of family and friends to provide informal childcare to enable them to work.
* whether the needs of groups such as shiftworkers, teenage parents, ethnic minorities and disabled children are being met.
* whether the provision and funding of childcare places takes into account the need for 'wraparound care'.
The inquiry was warmly welcomed by the National Day Nurseries Association, which called it 'long overdue' and the National Childminding Association, which said it would be making a submission to the select committee.
Submissions should be sent to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA (020 7219 5833/5832, fax 020 7219 0580, e-mail workpencom@parliament.ukby 12 February
