Uh well, we can in fact now uh talk to
the government because I'm joined by
Steven Morgan, the Minister for Early
Education. Uh very good morning to you.
Thanks very much indeed uh for talking
to us this morning. Um and first of all
um I know that today you're encouraging
uh parents in England to sign up for
their funded child care because that
scheme is being expanded. So to first of
all briefly tell us who's eligible and
and what they're eligible for.
Well, first of all, I just want to
recognize that it's been a really tough
time for family finances across our
country, and we want to break that
unfair link between how well uh paid a
family is and a child's background and
make sure that every child in every part
of our country can succeed and thrive
and get the best start in life. That's
why today we're announcing 600 million
pounds going into our holiday holiday
activity and food program to give
children access to hot meals during the
school holidays and also parents more
choices around child care. Fantastic
investment going into communities up and
down the country but also more broadly
we're investing in children's futures
through our child care entitlement offer
and three days left to make sure that
parents apply apply. I want to make sure
that parents are accessing this really
important support, a lifeline support
for parents across the country so that
every child gets the best start in life
through good quality early education.
>> And I I know that you've increased the
hourly rate that you pay child care
providers who are offering these free
hours, but in many cases that even
increased rate doesn't cover the full
cost of the child care. And some of
those providers are being forced to
charge for extras like meals or trips or
nappies or other extras. And that's
pricing a lot of parents out, isn't it?
>> Well, the prime minister has made uh
early education his key priority. And I
know that it's the top priority for the
education secretary, Bridget
Phillipsson, putting 9 billion pounds
into the system later this year. I want
to make sure we're improving access and
accessibility to early education on
charging. Uh we want to make sure that
it's a good scheme across the country
and works for parents. We want to make
sure there's transparency in the system.
So providers are expected to publish
information around what parents have to
pay. But 30 hours of funded child care
will be available from next week that
we're delivering on this after a
previous government made a pledge
without a plan. And it's really
important that this is success and I've
been tracking it really closely uh over
the past year to make sure it's a scheme
that's going to make a real difference
and we deliver our promise to parents.
>> But what about this issue of some
parents not being able to afford those
extras that that nurseries are charging
for? So they're not able to to access th
those free childare hours. What's your
answer to that?
>> So we've been looking closely at the
eligibility for the childare entitlement
scheme. We want to make sure it works
for every parent. There's always
challenges in big programs like this and
we published a strategy earlier this
year that which will make sure that we
are reviewing the scheme to make sure it
makes a big difference. But as I said,
parents have got three days to apply for
the scheme that starts next week. It's a
fantastic program that uh hundreds of
thousands of parents are already
benefiting from on charging. providers
just have to set out what is mandatory
and information will be available to
parents on their website.
>> Okay, let me ask another question then.
Are there enough staff to sc to cope
with this expansion?
>> So, we've been growing the workforce.
It's been a real challenge over the past
year and I pay tribute to early years
providers across the country that have
worked handinhand with local authorities
and the government to make this work.
Been tracking progress really uh
closely. But we've grown the workforce
and also we've grown the number of
places. We're investing in schoolbased
nurseries to make sure there's more
places across the country in
disadvantaged communities. It's a really
exciting program, a big investment by
government that I think is going to make
a real difference to children up and
down the country.
>> Okay. You say you're growing the
workforce, but are they evenly spread
across the country? I mean, I know that
Offstead warns of certain child care
deserts and they say that they tend to
happen um where lower household incomes
um exist and higher levels of
deprivation. Do do you acknowledge that
there are areas that are are struggling
to to create the prices?
>> I do acknowledge there's areas across
the country that will struggle with
places and we've been working really
closely with providers and with local
authorities to make sure we do deliver
on our promise to parents. It's looking
really positive, but I'm keeping a
really close eye on those issues. We're
investing, as I said, in in school-based
nurseries where we need those extra
places to fulfill that commitment to
parents. Parents should be able to get
one of their top three choices. And this
will save parents on average £75,000 a
year. So, really important government
scheme that's going to make a real
difference to communities across our
country.
>> Okay, let me just move you on to another
issue if I can. Um, and yesterday we
were reporting here on this show that
the news broke about the fertility rate
uh in England and Wales, which has
fallen to its lowest levels on record. I
just wonder what your thoughts were on
this. Why do you think that it's
dropping?
>> Well, I talk to parents all the time and
they tell me that to grow a to have a
child can be really expensive and that's
why we are investing in our child care
offer to help reduce some of those costs
to parents. It's obviously a a choice
for families if they want to raise a
child, but absolutely we're investing in
government schemes like our childare
entitlement to to support parents if if
they want to choose to have a child.
>> Should you drop the two child benefit
cap?
>> Well, our down payment on the child
poverty strategy was to invest in more
children accessing free school meals.
I'm really excited to be working with
Bridget Phillips to deliver that. It
will lift 100,000 children out of
poverty and half a million more children
will be able to access free school meals
from September this year. You'll have to
wait, I'm afraid, to child poverty
strategy which will be out in the
autumn. But the prime minister has been
clear the levels of child poverty that
we see in Britain is a stain on our
society and we need to use all levers
available to us to bring down those
numbers and make sure that every child
in every part of the country gets a good
start in life. I noticed that you
avoided the question of the two child
benefit cap, but I I'm curious to know
whether you're concerned about the
fertility rate. I mean, there are a lot
of people that say, you know, if we if
we don't have enough people enough
babies being born in future, there won't
be enough taxpayers to pay for an aging
generation. Is it something that
concerns you?
Well, we need to look at all of these
interventions in the round and and as
you say, we will look at these matters
in the child poverty strategy which
we'll report in the autumn. We need to
look at all levers including housing,
what we're doing in education in terms
of investing in free school meals, the
investment in free breakfast clubs, in
every primary school in the country are
9 billion pounds being spent on early
education in the child care entitlement
offer. And that's why I'm really
encouraging parents today to just check
their eligibility for that childare
entitlement. they've got three days to
do so. They can find out more
information on the child care choices
website.
>> Um and I just want to pick up on um a
story that we were just chatting with
our political correspondent with Mari
with just a moment ago and reports in
the times today saying that the
chancellor is considering a tax increase
on landlords applying national insurance
to rental income. And I and I won't know
you won't be able to tell me uh whether
or not that will appear in the budget,
but but I wonder whether you'd be
opposed to that idea in principle.
Obviously fiscal policy and taxation is
a matter for the chancellor of the
excheer. You'll have to wait until the
budget this autumn.
>> I'm very happy to wait but I am curious
to know your opinion.
>> Well, we're focused on growing the
economy, fixing the foundations of the
country, restoring public services and
that decade of national renewal. I'm
afraid you will have to wait till the
budget later this year, but that's our
relentless focus is growing economy and
investing in children's futures through
the announcements that I'm making today.
Okay. Well, Stephen Morgan, we
appreciate your your time this morning.
Thanks very much indeed for joining us.