Industrial Strategy Consultation Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Fiona Mactaggart
Main Page: Fiona Mactaggart (Labour - Slough)Department Debates - View all Fiona Mactaggart's debates with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Industrial Strategy Consultation
Fiona Mactaggart Excerpts(7 years, 3 months ago)
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Greg Clark
My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. That is one of the proposals in the Green Paper that I hope will have his support through the consultation.
Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)
The Green Paper rightly focuses on productivity, but there is one area of infrastructure where Britain lags enormously behind all our competitors: the cost of childcare. Childcare costs more in Britain than it does in every other OECD country apart from Switzerland—it takes up over 40% of the average wage—yet it is hardly mentioned in the Green Paper. That is the way to liberate the talent of women. What is he going to do about it?
Greg Clark
The Green Paper invites comments and proposals, so I look forward to seeing the right hon. Lady’s response to it. As I said earlier, the Government have taken very seriously the importance of childcare in allowing women and men to return to work in good jobs, and we have made great progress. I will be interested to read her response to the consultation.