NCT Q&A with Mark Reckless,
  MP for Rochester and Strood

  By Anna Morell

 

  On behalf of the NCT, back in June, I invited the MP for Rochester and Strood,
  Mark Reckless, to Temple Mill Children's Centre to meet parents of under 5s
  and learn more about what local parents want to see happen on a raft of
  issues affecting family life and their children's futures.

  All of the questions we received from our members were collated into a lengthy
  document and submitted to Mark for his consideration. He has taken the time
  to answer them. These are his thoughts on concerns from birth to university.

Sure Start Children’s Centres 

Q: What is the MP’s view on the future of local Sure Start Children’s Centres? Does he recognise them as a fundamentally important resource for parents of children of all ages, but especially as a resource for 0-5s and their carers?

A: As you know, children’s early years experiences, particularly family life, lay foundations that can shape the rest of their lives. A secure and happy childhood is critical. Therefore, strengthening family life is at the heart of this Government’s vision for Britain. Sure Start has a critical role to play in achieving those objectives.

In these difficult economic times, Sure Start needs to be more effective, particularly in reaching out to families who may be most in need of the support it offers, something on which I do not think there was sufficient emphasis by the previous Government. Medway has pledged to at least maintain Sure Start and has protected the Sure Start budget despite the need for large budget reductions overall.

Sure Start will be refocused on its original purpose of early intervention and improving the life chances of disadvantaged children. Furthermore, there will be more support in Sure Start from organisations with a track record of supporting families, as well as the statutory providers. I believe that these and other reforms will also encourage more community providers to assist Sure Start, including through the payment by results scheme.

I believe that local authorities in consultation with local communities, rather than central government, are best placed to determine the most effective way of delivering future services to meet local need. Councils also have a duty to consult before opening, closing or significantly changing children's centres. I share your view that Medway should continue to emphasise the Sure Start provision within its available budget.

Breastfeeding

Q: What is the MP’s view on the lack of Central Government funding of practical and information-based breastfeeding support?

Is the MP aware of the statistics concerning breastfeeding failure rates and the costs (medical, social, psychological and financial) of the UK’s culture of reliance on synthetic milk products (‘formula milk’)?

What will he do to influence Government thinking on funding and provision of resource to turn the current situation around?

A: The Government has an existing statutory scheme, Healthy Start, that offers a means-tested nutritional safety net to pregnant women and very young children in the lowest income unemployed families to encourage breastfeeding and healthy eating.

Also, the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) programme operates in 56 local deprived areas. FNP recognises that first-time young mothers are more likely to need additional practical and emotional support to deal with the challenges of parenthood and offers tailored advice on breastfeeding, infant nutrition and other related issues.

I know Ministers value the work being done by many of the dedicated professional bodies and other organisations, including the Breastfeeding Manifesto, and want that good work to continue to deliver better health outcomes both for the mother and her baby.

I agree with you that third sector organisations such as NCT may be best planned to provide appropriate and cost effective support. NCT in Medway may wish to put a proposal for such increased involvement to the PCT. If so, I would be pleased to look at this and potentially write to the PCT in support. 

Healthcare

Q: Numbers of Midwives and Health Visitors are not meeting demand. There appears to be a lack of adequate funding to bring more on-stream. What can be done about this?

Could these services be met, at least in part, by NCT and other third sector organisations? Such charities' have trained, professional personnel – antenatal teachers, birth partners, postnatal leaders and breast-feeding counsellors, for example.

Could the Government provide funding to such organisations to bridge the gap? Would it not cost less than to train brand-new health professionals (without giving up on NHS service provision entirely)?

To spin it another way, how can NCT Medway support the NHS in Medway?

Would this not in part fulfil some of Central Government’s pledge concerning The Big Society?

A: The Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, made it clear in a meeting with the Royal College of Midwives last year that the Government will continue to train midwives at current rates and the Government is considering ways of helping improve midwife recruitment and retention, especially given the increased number and complexity of births in recent years.

The Government is not dropping any commitment to ensure maternity services meet patient demand and deliver the best care possible. This is one of the reasons why the Government is prioritising health spending.

Baby and toddler facilities 

  Q: What can be done to change the balance of support from a reliance on volunteers
  for many 0-5 support services, including breastfeeding support, to one whereby
  adequate numbers of paid professionals are part of Public Sector provision?

   What can be done to increase the number of physical facilities for feeding/nursing,
  baby changing and toilet facilities, including ‘out of hours’ facilities, within the
  Medway Towns?
  
The NCT runs a hospitality tent at council-run events such as the Sweeps and  Dickens festivals. Feedback from parents suggests strongly that they would like to see such facilities provided year-round in the constituency. For the record, Chatham and Gillingham are regarded as even worse for provision of facilities.

A: I agree that baby changing and toilet facilities are important. In particular, I want to see proper emphasis given to these in Medway regeneration projects. Whilst there were complaints about the 20p charge in the Pentagon toilets, I believe that these are now kept cleaner and are more suitable for such use. I do not agree that the volunteers should necessarily be replaced by paid professionals. Nor do I expect that would be affordable in the current financial position.

0-5 Years Education

Q: What is the government's position on looking at the possibility of deferring Spring/Summer-born children's Reception year places for a year?

For example, why could a child turning four at the end of August not have the option of deferring their starting Reception year until they turn five the following year?

Differences in age can massively impact a child’s ability to thrive in a school environment. The current system, wherein all children born between 1 September and the end of the following August are lumped into the same educational year group, is seen as crude by some parents of Spring/Summer-born children.

The developmental difference between a child just turned four and a child about to turn five can be significant. The aptitude, confidence and readiness of children born at either end of the school year is noticeably different. The educational performance in later school years of Spring/Summer-born children is statistically verifiably worse than that of older Autumn/Winter-born children in the same year group.

At present if a child is kept out of Reception year, they have to go straight into Year 1. The Reception year is missed entirely. Will Government look at introducing parental choice for determining point and age of entry into the state school system?

A: Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, is pursuing changes which may address some of your concerns. These include additional resources for poorer children, systematic synthetic phonics training for teachers and a new age 6 reading check. The initial reading test trial has proved to be popular and successful with schools, and the Education Department will be launching a full pilot later this year.

I agree with you that parents with children who would be relatively young for their year should have the option of deferral, and believe that this least be possible in the new free schools, which are now beginning to be set up, although unfortunately we do not as yet have one in Medway.

Libraries

Q: To what extent are libraries in Medway having their funding cut, and for how long?

Is the MP aware of rumours of Strood library’s closure, and what is his position in terms of support, or withdrawal of support, for libraries or sub-strands of their service position?

A: Libraries are at the centre of communities across the country and they have a unique status in the nation’s consciousness. I am saddened to hear that some local authorities are closing, or proposing to close, libraries and I would like to see a rethink of these plans in many cases.

I also know that local library users will challenge any proposals in Medway which unacceptably affect its library service. It is up to local communities, working with local councillors, to keep our libraries open, with volunteers supplementing and working with librarians, rather than replacing them. I am not aware of and would not support any proposal to close Strood Library.

By encouraging reading, providing access to information and representing a focus for community activity, public library services contribute significantly to the national cultural landscape. They have statutory protection and there are no proposals to remove the duty on local authorities to provide this service.

Literacy

Q: What will the Government do to reverse educational standards which have left a generation of parents unable to read to their children or encourage their journey into literacy?

Can libraries be used to help the one in five parents who lack the confidence to read aloud to their children?

A: I could not agree more with you about the importance of being able to read and write. The oundation of any child’s education must be based on their ability to grasp the basics. The sad reality is that despite the hard work of teachers and pupils, the latest Programme for International Student Assessment survey highlighted that since 2000 the UK has slipped from 7th to 25th in reading, demonstrating the need for the Government to act on improving standards in schools.

I am pleased, therefore, that this Government recognises the need to prioritise this area and is making plans to improve this most basic of skills. The Education Secretary, Michael Gove, has confirmed that he will be introducing a new phonics-based reading check for six-year-olds, which will ensure that children who need extra help are given it before it is too late. The resistance of much of the educational establishment previously to this approach, which is proven to work, has handicapped too many children. I am delighted we are now driving this through. The Government has also extended the Booktrust programme to help disadvantaged children develop a love of reading.

In January, the National Curriculum Review was launched, to explore curriculum reforms. The Government intends to return the National Curriculum to its intended purpose – a minimum national entitlement organised around subject disciplines. The Government will make announcements about how it plans to push ahead with curriculum reforms accordingly. In Medway schools which put a strong focus on numeracy and literacy, particularly phonics, tend to perform best and I want to see other schools follow that approach.

University Funding

Q: Can the MP tell us his position re the changes to university funding and tuition fees? The idea was that the changes would save public money.

Government had suggested that the highest fee of £9,000 would be the exception, and the calculations on what the new funding system would cost were made using the assumption that the average fee for a university course would be £7,500 per year. However, apparently two thirds
of the universities will be charging maximum fees, with the average fee being £8,500.

According to the Public Accounts Committee, spending in loans could rise from the current £24bn to £70bn by 2015-16, which does not seem to be a saving (unless university places are cut to keep costs under control.)

A: I am against the increase in university fees. I was one of the 302 who voted against that government proposal.

Five other Conservative and twenty one Liberal Democrat colleagues joined me in the ‘No’ lobby. It was not easy to vote with only a minority of my side of the House.

I found it particularly difficult to justify the suddenness of the move with one student required to pay only around £3,000 but then another student, potentially a sister just one year behind at school, expected to pay two or three times more with very little warning. I also believe that as MPs we should make decisions and whenever possible try and explain those likely decisions before an election, rather than use a report from someone who is not elected, however distinguished, to justify a decision (the Browne Report). 

I was enormously impressed by the students who put their case to me on this issue. They asked me why they should have to pay so much when Welsh and Scottish and in many cases EU students did not have to pay at all.

I then showed David Willetts, the universities minister, detailed statistics showing that 46% of EU students due to repay a loan from the British taxpayer were in default. I have also asked government ministers how they can justify an 80% decrease in grant to universities in the context of a 60% increase in our net payments to the EU. I cannot justify it, and voted accordingly.

I also agree with the points you make about the fees being charged, although the average, and the associated extra public expenditure, may have fallen closer to £8,000 since you wrote to me. I fear that we risk ending up with the worst of all worlds with this policy. Many universities seem to be charging well above cost because they do not want to be seen as ‘cheaper’ in case this is perceived as an indicator of low quality.

Local Government Funding 

Q: To what extent is Medway Council suffering from the funding cuts from Central Government? What are the headline figures and where can they be found?

What is being done to prevent funding cuts in subsequent years? Can Medway Council expect to see more funding next year and the year after, or the same amount of funding, or even less than this year?

A: Reducing the deficit, putting the finances back on a stable footing and continuing to ensure economic recovery is the most urgent issue facing Britain and local government has to pay a significant part in that. My understanding is that Medway face a 27% cut in its general central government grant, like other councils. Cuts in services will be much less than this as local government salaries, and in Medway also increments, are frozen for two years, a third or so of the budget is paid for by council tax which is being frozen but not cut, and the council is becoming significantly more efficient.

The reductions are greatest in the first two years to reflect the freeze in local government salaries.

Later Medway Council will be able to decide on what more revenue it may want to raise from council tax.

ASA and Bailey Report

Q: What can be done to increase the speed with which the Advertising Standards Authority can work to censure advertising which may be harmful to children? What can be done to give it teeth and authority to introduce punitive measures against those who breach its guidelines?

The ASA recently upheld a number of complaints in relation to a hyper-violent advert for the film, The Mechanic, shown at a time at which children could be watching. The adjudication took months. By the time the ASA ruled to uphold the complaint, the film had been and gone and the order to withdraw the adverts from transmission served no purpose. No truly punitive or deterring action was taken against any involved parties.

Can the role of the ASA be tied in to the work of implementing approved measures from Reg Bailey’s report? 

There has been a lot of fanfare about the Bailey Report. Is this all talk or will the recommendations actually be implemented? If so, when?

A: Sexual imagery is clearly of great concern where children are exposed to it. The Prime Minister has, on many occasions, stated firmly that we have simply got to stop treating children like adults, and adults like children.

As you know, the Government commissioned Reg Bailey, Chief Executive of the Mothers Union, to lead an independent review into the Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood. His review has recently been published and it states clearly that steps need to be taken to stop the "drift towards ever greater commercialisation and sexualisation."

One of the positive recommendations of the report is ensuring magazines and newspapers with sexualised images on their covers are not in easy sight of children. I know this will not cover newspapers with sexualised imagery inside the paper, but I believe it is a step in the right direction and the Government will review the progress made in 18 months' time.

In terms of advertising, there is a statutory duty placed on Ofcom to maintain standards in broadcast advertising and the ASA is responsible day-to-day for broadcast advertising content standards. I agree with you that it needs to speed up its adjudications. I think that it is possible that it will be given more teeth, in part to help it implement some of the Bailey Report recommendations. I don’t have details yet but I know this area is a priority for the Prime Minister and expect that he will ensure further decisions are made and announced on this soon.