Part 2 - General Functions of Local Authority: Wales
Section 22: Duty to secure sufficient childcare for working parents
65.Section 22 places a duty on local authorities in Wales to secure, as far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient childcare to meet the requirements of parents in their area who require childcare in order to work or to undertake training or education to prepare for work. This applies to childcare for disabled children until they reach 18 and to childcare for other children until the 1st September after their 14th birthday.
66.The duty applies "so far as reasonably practicable". This recognises that it may not be practicable for a local authority to secure childcare to meet the requirements of every parent in their area. In determining what is reasonably practicable, local authorities will need to take into account a number of factors, including the resources available to them. In discharging the duty, local authorities must have regard to guidance issued by the National Assembly for Wales.
67.Section 22 specifies that, in determining whether the provision of childcare is sufficient, local authorities must have regard to the needs of parents in their area for childcare eligible for the childcare element of the Working Tax Credit, for childcare that is suitable for disabled children, and for childcare delivered through the medium of the Welsh Language. Section 22(4) enables the Assembly to amend, by order, the criteria to which local authorities must, or may, have regard in determining sufficiency and to make consequential amendments.
Section 23: Powers of local authority in relation to the provision of childcare
68.Section 23 provides that a Welsh local authority may make arrangements with childcare providers and provide support to them (including financial support). The section also allows local authorities to provide childcare themselves. In exercising these powers, Welsh local authorities must have regard to any guidance issued by the Welsh Assembly.
Section 24: Arrangements between local authority and childcare providers
69.Section 24 requires local authorities in Wales to exercise their powers to ensure that any providers with whom they enter into a financial agreement in relation to childcare provision meet any conditions imposed on them by local authorities. It allows local authorities to require repayment of financial assistance if providers fail to meet such conditions.
Section 25: Charges where local authority provide childcare
70.Section 25 provides that Welsh local authorities may enter into agreements which impose a charge for the provision of childcare by the authority. This does not apply where care is provided for children under section 18 of the Children Act 1989 as provision for charging in these circumstances is made in section 29 of that Act.
Section 26: Power to require local authority to assess childcare provision
71.Section 26 provides the Welsh Assembly with a power to make regulations placing a duty on local authorities in Wales to assess whether childcare provision in their area is sufficient. The regulations may prescribe the interval between assessments and require a review of the assessment. They may define arrangements for consultation and require Welsh local authorities to have regard to guidance issued by the Welsh Assembly in respect of the assessment and review.
Section 27: Duty to provide information, advice and assistance
72.Section 27 places a duty on Welsh local authorities to establish and maintain a service providing information, advice and assistance to parents and prospective parents in accordance with the section. Subsection (2) requires local authorities to provide parents and prospective parents with prescribed information on the provision of childcare and on other services or facilities, or publications, that may benefit them or children or young people. The details of the information which must be provided will be dealt with in regulations.
73.Subsection (3) requires the Welsh Assembly, when prescribing in regulations the information which must be provided, to have regard to the needs of the parents of disabled children and young people. Subsection (4) allows local authorities in Wales to provide additional information to parents and prospective parents and to provide information to other persons.
74.The section requires local authorities to provide advice and assistance to parents or prospective parents using or seeking childcare and to ensure that the information service is accessible to those who might benefit from it, in particular parents who might otherwise have difficulty accessing it.
75.Subsection (7) requires local authorities to take account of guidance issued by the Welsh Assembly when carrying out their functions.
76.Subsection (8) defines what is meant by a disabled child or young person for the purposes of section 27.
Sections 28 and 29: Inspection and Powers of Assembly to secure proper performance etc.
77.Sections 28 and 29 ensure that a Welsh local authority’s functions under Part 2 (to secure sufficient childcare and to provide information) are inspected by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales and are subject to the powers of the Assembly to secure proper performance through sections 496, 497, 497A, 497AA and 497B of the Education Act 1996.
Section 30: Interpretation of Part 2
78.Section 30 defines childcare for the purposes of Part 2 as being care which is required to be registered by the Welsh Assembly under Part 10A of the Children Act 1989 or care approved through a scheme made by the Welsh Assembly under section 12(5) of the Tax Credits Act 2002.
