ianstone
09-25-2010, 03:13 PM
Britain's most expensive creche: Forget duck houses and moats... MPs have built a luxury £500,000 nursery for just FOUR of their children
By Zoe Brennan (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Zoe+Brennan)
Last updated at 5:03 AM on 25th September 2010
Comments (210) (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315031/Britains-expensive-creche----money-wasted.html#comments)
Add to My Stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315031/Britains-expensive-creche----money-wasted.html)
Even the most cursory glance will tell you that this is no ordinary children's nursery. For a start, there aren't any mothers standing chatting at the gate, gossiping as they rock pushchairs back and fro. Children do not tug at their mothers' skirts, waiting to begin the day.
Then there is its location, a Grade II listed building opposite the Palace of Westminster, recently converted at a cost of more than half a million pounds to provide state-of-the-art facilities.
But then, the parents who drop their little darlings here are no ordinary clientele. That much is evident from the two policemen who stand guard inside the doors.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/24/article-1315031-0B544EE1000005DC-482_468x310.jpg Not your average nursery: The creche for MPs' children on Parliament Street is on a site previously housed by popular Westminster bar Bellamy's.
Welcome to the House of Commons creche - the newest (and some would say, most lavish and unnecessary) addition to the facilities on offer for our elected representatives and their families.
Opened at the beginning of this month, as part of an initiative to make the Commons more 'family-friendly', no expense has been spared in getting the creche ready for business.
Fully-qualified nursery staff have been interviewed, vetted and appointed. Food is provided daily by the House of Commons catering team. And, of course, the security is unrivalled, to help give privileged parents extra peace of mind.
More...
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What would Wolverine say? Urban dad Hugh Jackman does the school run (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1314762/Urban-dad-Hugh-Jackman-does-school-run-New-York.html)
None of this comes cheap - especially when the nursery is open from 8am until as late as 10.30pm, to take account of MPs' hours. All in all, the running costs of providing these facilities are believed to be £8,400 per week - or, approximately, £428,000 per year.
All very cosy, no doubt, for the MPs who take advantage of the 40 childcare places it has to offer, at a competitive rate of £292.50 per week.
There's just one problem. Only four MPs' children have so far been signed up to use the creche, leaving a massive deficit in its finances. Nine House of Commons staff have also signed up - far short of the numbers required.
And under the terms of the nursery's operation, the resulting deficit must be plugged by the taxpayer.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/24/article-1315031-056EA6FB000005DC-806_233x510.jpg Support: Commons Speaker John Bercow (with wife Sally and 14-month-old daughter) was in favour of the childcare scheme
Indeed, as this special investigation can reveal, the Commons creche is currently running at an estimated weekly deficit of £4,598 - equivalent to nearly £235,000 per year.
That means it would cost the taxpayer less to send the MPs' toddlers currently using the creche to Eton than to subsidise their childcare arrangements.
At a time when the Coalition Government is demanding savage cutbacks across the public sector and ordinary families are struggling to afford even basic childcare as the recession hits household budgets, many will view this as an outrage.
Even within Westminster, which is still reeling from the public furore over the MPs' expenses scandal, there is growing disquiet that the creche is costly and unnecessary.
One MP the Mail has spoken to describes the creche as 'an expensive white elephant', while Christopher Chope, Tory MP for Christhcurch and a member of the House of Commons Administration Committee, calls it 'a reckless waste of taxpayers' money'.
Chope is so incensed that he has reported the scheme to the National Audit Office, which is investigating the use of public money on the project and why it was not referred to the House of Commons Finance Committee.
He adds: 'There is an audit issue here - you just don't go committing yourself to a big expenditure without first finding out about demand.'
So how on earth did the creche come about - and why has it become such a drain on the public purse?
The plans for a Commons creche were first proposed by Labour MP for Watford Claire Ward - a mother of two young children - who lost her seat at the last election.
Her principal allies in the scheme were Labour's Harriet Harman, who had long campaigned for better childcare provision at Westminster, and the newly elected Commons Speaker, John Bercow, who - with his wife Sally and their three young children - had recently taken up residence in Speaker's House.
The Commons creche is running at an estimated weekly deficit of £4,598 - equivalent to nearly £235,000 per year - which the taxpayer must plug -
By December last year, a plan was put in motion - overseen by a cross-party advisory group of three MPs, comprising the Liberal Democrat Charles Kennedy, the Tory MP Eleanor Laing and Labour MP Jessica Morden.
Though MPs were not formally consulted on the matter, a site for the nursery was chosen - an impressive publicly owned building on Parliament Street, which had previously housed a popular Westminster bar, Bellamy's.
Other Commons workers felt that at a time when MPs' perks were causing such outrage, there was simply no need to lavish hundreds of thousands of pounds on childcare provision at Westminster.
A petition against the nursery - signed by 470 Commons workers (among them, many MPs) - was handed to the House of Commons commission, which oversees Westminster facilities.
Their pleas were ignored. On March 29 this year, the director general of resources at Parliament approved an estimated £511,000 plus VAT to cover building work at the nursery - £20,000 higher than had originally been proposed.
Planning permission for the Grade II listed building was sought in April - although there were complaints that work began before it had been granted - and the contract for running the facilities was awarded to the London Early Years Foundation, a non-profit childcare charity and 'social enterprise'.
On July 27, the outfit was registered with the schools' inspectorate Ofsted and applicants invited, with Speaker Bercow hailing it a great day for democracy.
'Our Parliament has sadly been behind the times in providing practical support to parents who work here,' he said.
'If Parliament is to be truly representative of the community it serves then it must do more to encourage parents to stand as MPs. Many other Parliaments around the world provide nursery facilities for members and staff.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/24/article-1315031-0B2AA03A000005DC-641_224x423.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/24/article-1315031-0B4293CA000005DC-791_224x423.jpg
Child's play: Labour's Harriet Harman who had long campaigned for better childcare provision at Westminster and Liberal Democrat Charles Kennedy, a member of a cross-party advisory group which oversaw the plans
'It is time one of the oldest Parliaments in the world caught up with the rest. I am delighted that the commission has taken this historic decision.'
Under the terms of its Ofsted registration, the nursery can take up to 40 children up to the age of five, with not more than nine youngsters being under the age of two at any time. Though all Commons workers are eligible to apply for places, MPs' children would be given priority on any waiting list.
For those who got in, there would be a sliding scale of charges for parents, depending on how many days per week they used it, averaging out at the equivalent of £300 per child per week or £292.50 per week for those who use it more regularly.
Provided enough children were registered, these fees would be sufficient to cover the full running costs of the creche - and even generate a small profit.
The Mail has seen confidential papers which show that, under its financial plan, it was hoped the establishment would eventually make a £50,000 profit a year, on a £450,000 turnover. It would be 'cost neutral' when it reached 70 per cent occupancy - or catered for 28 children.
The problem is, if the creche had fewer children than that, it would run at a loss - a financial burden which, under the terms of the agreed plan, would be covered by the House of Commons budget.
So how many children signed up? In August, 21 parents expressed an interest. On September 1, when the doors opened, seven children were booked in.
Today, one month on, 13 have been registered, only four of whom are the offspring of MPs - the remaining nine being the children of Commons support staff. It is unclear how many of those have yet attended.
It would cost the taxpayer less to send the MPs' toddlers currently using the creche to Eton than to subsidise their childcare arrangements
A policeman on duty outside the creche this week said: 'There have been a few children since the nursery opened at the beginning of September, but not many.
'I think they have one or two in there now, but it is hardly busy. We've not exactly had a rush.'
The House is in recess, returning on October 11, and the Commons authorities are keen to point out that they expect occupancy rates to build over time.
But there is no indication of how many more MPs may sign up - and the current shortfall is causing a grave financial burden on the public purse.
Using detailed comparisons with other nurseries, and the scheme's own financial plans, the Mail estimates it costs as much as £8,400 per week to run the creche facilities, depending on how many staff have already started work there (the plans allowed for a staff of ten).
Assuming that all 13 children currently registered at the creche are attending five days a week, the fees from their parents bring in £3,802 a week - leaving a £4,598 weekly gap in the creche's finances.
And, at the moment, this deficit is being plugged by the taxpayer. Since there are only four MPs' children among the attendants, this equates to a public subsidy of £1,150 per week for each MP's child.
By comparison, a top public school, such as Eton, costs the equivalent of £878 per week.
And remember, this figure does not even take into account the £511,000 refurbishment paid out of the House of Commons's budget - nor the loss of income from the bar and dining facilities which is replaced.
So how does the House of Commons justify these costs?
A spokeswoman told the Mail: 'We didn't expect the nursery to be covering costs from day one. It will be cost neutral when it is 70 per cent full, but until then the money comes from the House of Commons budget, which is taxpayers' money. This situation was budgeted for.'
But that does not appease some MPs who are outraged by the huge deficit in the creche finances - and blame Speaker John Bercow for failing to oversee the scheme properly.
Christopher Chope MP says: 'The Speaker didn't refer it to the Finance Committee, because he was told that if he did, it would get a thumbs down. There is an enormous taxpayers' subsidy going into this project, which is in any case the wrong solution.
'The issue became totemic - a battle between so-called dinosaurs and modernisers. And the man on the street is paying the price.
'It was rushed through for the wrong reasons. The head of the Audit Office has visited the site and is concerned about value for money. He has told me that he is monitoring the situation.'
Chope also questions the nursery's extraordinary opening hours, asking whether it is right for children as young as six months old to be kept in a nursery up to 10.30pm at night.
'Surely, it would be better if we paid for them to have babysitters to tuck them into their own beds at home rather than this ridiculous, expensive idea,' says Chope.
'Quite apart from the waste of money, it simply isn't kind to look after children in this way.'
So which MPs' children are actually using the nursery? The House of Commons refused to say - and would not even specify whether any of the four children were siblings.
But contrary to reports earlier this week, John Bercow's wife Sally says that their children are not among those attending the creche. 'We already have childcare in place for our two-year-old, which is divided between myself and a live-in nanny - whose salary is paid by us, I hasten to add,' says Mrs Bercow.
'The question of whether to use it didn't, actually, arise, as our boys - aged six and four - are at full-time school.'
According to other sources, however, it is believed that the Bercows had originally planned to use the nursery.
The Mail has also learned that applications for two MPs' children were mysteriously withdrawn over the summer recess, when it became apparent that the lavish project was likely to attract criticism.
In any case, the question remains: do MPs really need a bespoke nursery subsidised by the taxpayer?
There are dozens of nearby nurseries already up and running, such as the local St Patrick's Montessori Nursery, which charges £310 a week - far less than the £1,150 per week it is costing the taxpayer to subsidise each MP's child at the Commons creche.
Ben Black, managing director of My Family Care, a leading childcare provider, says: 'Why don't they give MPs with young children extra money to spend on back-up childcare as and when they need to?'
For their part, the London Early Years Foundation, which runs the Commons creche, refused to answer detailed questions.
Spokesman Neil Hart says: 'As for the figures, you know far more than me already. We have got a particular PR plan in place. Our schedule doesn't allow for any publicity in the next few weeks. We will have a full launch for the nursery at some date in the future.'
Presumably, this will be when they have rounded up some more MPs' children to enjoy the shiny new facilities as they look out across Parliament Square.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315031/Britains-expensive-creche----money-wasted.html#ixzz10ZPGp5zE
By Zoe Brennan (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Zoe+Brennan)
Last updated at 5:03 AM on 25th September 2010
Comments (210) (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315031/Britains-expensive-creche----money-wasted.html#comments)
Add to My Stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315031/Britains-expensive-creche----money-wasted.html)
Even the most cursory glance will tell you that this is no ordinary children's nursery. For a start, there aren't any mothers standing chatting at the gate, gossiping as they rock pushchairs back and fro. Children do not tug at their mothers' skirts, waiting to begin the day.
Then there is its location, a Grade II listed building opposite the Palace of Westminster, recently converted at a cost of more than half a million pounds to provide state-of-the-art facilities.
But then, the parents who drop their little darlings here are no ordinary clientele. That much is evident from the two policemen who stand guard inside the doors.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/24/article-1315031-0B544EE1000005DC-482_468x310.jpg Not your average nursery: The creche for MPs' children on Parliament Street is on a site previously housed by popular Westminster bar Bellamy's.
Welcome to the House of Commons creche - the newest (and some would say, most lavish and unnecessary) addition to the facilities on offer for our elected representatives and their families.
Opened at the beginning of this month, as part of an initiative to make the Commons more 'family-friendly', no expense has been spared in getting the creche ready for business.
Fully-qualified nursery staff have been interviewed, vetted and appointed. Food is provided daily by the House of Commons catering team. And, of course, the security is unrivalled, to help give privileged parents extra peace of mind.
More...
Real Housewife Bethenny Frankel takes baby Bryn out for lunch (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1314704/Bethenny-Frankel-takes-baby-Bryn-lunch.html)
What would Wolverine say? Urban dad Hugh Jackman does the school run (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1314762/Urban-dad-Hugh-Jackman-does-school-run-New-York.html)
None of this comes cheap - especially when the nursery is open from 8am until as late as 10.30pm, to take account of MPs' hours. All in all, the running costs of providing these facilities are believed to be £8,400 per week - or, approximately, £428,000 per year.
All very cosy, no doubt, for the MPs who take advantage of the 40 childcare places it has to offer, at a competitive rate of £292.50 per week.
There's just one problem. Only four MPs' children have so far been signed up to use the creche, leaving a massive deficit in its finances. Nine House of Commons staff have also signed up - far short of the numbers required.
And under the terms of the nursery's operation, the resulting deficit must be plugged by the taxpayer.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/24/article-1315031-056EA6FB000005DC-806_233x510.jpg Support: Commons Speaker John Bercow (with wife Sally and 14-month-old daughter) was in favour of the childcare scheme
Indeed, as this special investigation can reveal, the Commons creche is currently running at an estimated weekly deficit of £4,598 - equivalent to nearly £235,000 per year.
That means it would cost the taxpayer less to send the MPs' toddlers currently using the creche to Eton than to subsidise their childcare arrangements.
At a time when the Coalition Government is demanding savage cutbacks across the public sector and ordinary families are struggling to afford even basic childcare as the recession hits household budgets, many will view this as an outrage.
Even within Westminster, which is still reeling from the public furore over the MPs' expenses scandal, there is growing disquiet that the creche is costly and unnecessary.
One MP the Mail has spoken to describes the creche as 'an expensive white elephant', while Christopher Chope, Tory MP for Christhcurch and a member of the House of Commons Administration Committee, calls it 'a reckless waste of taxpayers' money'.
Chope is so incensed that he has reported the scheme to the National Audit Office, which is investigating the use of public money on the project and why it was not referred to the House of Commons Finance Committee.
He adds: 'There is an audit issue here - you just don't go committing yourself to a big expenditure without first finding out about demand.'
So how on earth did the creche come about - and why has it become such a drain on the public purse?
The plans for a Commons creche were first proposed by Labour MP for Watford Claire Ward - a mother of two young children - who lost her seat at the last election.
Her principal allies in the scheme were Labour's Harriet Harman, who had long campaigned for better childcare provision at Westminster, and the newly elected Commons Speaker, John Bercow, who - with his wife Sally and their three young children - had recently taken up residence in Speaker's House.
The Commons creche is running at an estimated weekly deficit of £4,598 - equivalent to nearly £235,000 per year - which the taxpayer must plug -
By December last year, a plan was put in motion - overseen by a cross-party advisory group of three MPs, comprising the Liberal Democrat Charles Kennedy, the Tory MP Eleanor Laing and Labour MP Jessica Morden.
Though MPs were not formally consulted on the matter, a site for the nursery was chosen - an impressive publicly owned building on Parliament Street, which had previously housed a popular Westminster bar, Bellamy's.
Other Commons workers felt that at a time when MPs' perks were causing such outrage, there was simply no need to lavish hundreds of thousands of pounds on childcare provision at Westminster.
A petition against the nursery - signed by 470 Commons workers (among them, many MPs) - was handed to the House of Commons commission, which oversees Westminster facilities.
Their pleas were ignored. On March 29 this year, the director general of resources at Parliament approved an estimated £511,000 plus VAT to cover building work at the nursery - £20,000 higher than had originally been proposed.
Planning permission for the Grade II listed building was sought in April - although there were complaints that work began before it had been granted - and the contract for running the facilities was awarded to the London Early Years Foundation, a non-profit childcare charity and 'social enterprise'.
On July 27, the outfit was registered with the schools' inspectorate Ofsted and applicants invited, with Speaker Bercow hailing it a great day for democracy.
'Our Parliament has sadly been behind the times in providing practical support to parents who work here,' he said.
'If Parliament is to be truly representative of the community it serves then it must do more to encourage parents to stand as MPs. Many other Parliaments around the world provide nursery facilities for members and staff.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/24/article-1315031-0B2AA03A000005DC-641_224x423.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/24/article-1315031-0B4293CA000005DC-791_224x423.jpg
Child's play: Labour's Harriet Harman who had long campaigned for better childcare provision at Westminster and Liberal Democrat Charles Kennedy, a member of a cross-party advisory group which oversaw the plans
'It is time one of the oldest Parliaments in the world caught up with the rest. I am delighted that the commission has taken this historic decision.'
Under the terms of its Ofsted registration, the nursery can take up to 40 children up to the age of five, with not more than nine youngsters being under the age of two at any time. Though all Commons workers are eligible to apply for places, MPs' children would be given priority on any waiting list.
For those who got in, there would be a sliding scale of charges for parents, depending on how many days per week they used it, averaging out at the equivalent of £300 per child per week or £292.50 per week for those who use it more regularly.
Provided enough children were registered, these fees would be sufficient to cover the full running costs of the creche - and even generate a small profit.
The Mail has seen confidential papers which show that, under its financial plan, it was hoped the establishment would eventually make a £50,000 profit a year, on a £450,000 turnover. It would be 'cost neutral' when it reached 70 per cent occupancy - or catered for 28 children.
The problem is, if the creche had fewer children than that, it would run at a loss - a financial burden which, under the terms of the agreed plan, would be covered by the House of Commons budget.
So how many children signed up? In August, 21 parents expressed an interest. On September 1, when the doors opened, seven children were booked in.
Today, one month on, 13 have been registered, only four of whom are the offspring of MPs - the remaining nine being the children of Commons support staff. It is unclear how many of those have yet attended.
It would cost the taxpayer less to send the MPs' toddlers currently using the creche to Eton than to subsidise their childcare arrangements
A policeman on duty outside the creche this week said: 'There have been a few children since the nursery opened at the beginning of September, but not many.
'I think they have one or two in there now, but it is hardly busy. We've not exactly had a rush.'
The House is in recess, returning on October 11, and the Commons authorities are keen to point out that they expect occupancy rates to build over time.
But there is no indication of how many more MPs may sign up - and the current shortfall is causing a grave financial burden on the public purse.
Using detailed comparisons with other nurseries, and the scheme's own financial plans, the Mail estimates it costs as much as £8,400 per week to run the creche facilities, depending on how many staff have already started work there (the plans allowed for a staff of ten).
Assuming that all 13 children currently registered at the creche are attending five days a week, the fees from their parents bring in £3,802 a week - leaving a £4,598 weekly gap in the creche's finances.
And, at the moment, this deficit is being plugged by the taxpayer. Since there are only four MPs' children among the attendants, this equates to a public subsidy of £1,150 per week for each MP's child.
By comparison, a top public school, such as Eton, costs the equivalent of £878 per week.
And remember, this figure does not even take into account the £511,000 refurbishment paid out of the House of Commons's budget - nor the loss of income from the bar and dining facilities which is replaced.
So how does the House of Commons justify these costs?
A spokeswoman told the Mail: 'We didn't expect the nursery to be covering costs from day one. It will be cost neutral when it is 70 per cent full, but until then the money comes from the House of Commons budget, which is taxpayers' money. This situation was budgeted for.'
But that does not appease some MPs who are outraged by the huge deficit in the creche finances - and blame Speaker John Bercow for failing to oversee the scheme properly.
Christopher Chope MP says: 'The Speaker didn't refer it to the Finance Committee, because he was told that if he did, it would get a thumbs down. There is an enormous taxpayers' subsidy going into this project, which is in any case the wrong solution.
'The issue became totemic - a battle between so-called dinosaurs and modernisers. And the man on the street is paying the price.
'It was rushed through for the wrong reasons. The head of the Audit Office has visited the site and is concerned about value for money. He has told me that he is monitoring the situation.'
Chope also questions the nursery's extraordinary opening hours, asking whether it is right for children as young as six months old to be kept in a nursery up to 10.30pm at night.
'Surely, it would be better if we paid for them to have babysitters to tuck them into their own beds at home rather than this ridiculous, expensive idea,' says Chope.
'Quite apart from the waste of money, it simply isn't kind to look after children in this way.'
So which MPs' children are actually using the nursery? The House of Commons refused to say - and would not even specify whether any of the four children were siblings.
But contrary to reports earlier this week, John Bercow's wife Sally says that their children are not among those attending the creche. 'We already have childcare in place for our two-year-old, which is divided between myself and a live-in nanny - whose salary is paid by us, I hasten to add,' says Mrs Bercow.
'The question of whether to use it didn't, actually, arise, as our boys - aged six and four - are at full-time school.'
According to other sources, however, it is believed that the Bercows had originally planned to use the nursery.
The Mail has also learned that applications for two MPs' children were mysteriously withdrawn over the summer recess, when it became apparent that the lavish project was likely to attract criticism.
In any case, the question remains: do MPs really need a bespoke nursery subsidised by the taxpayer?
There are dozens of nearby nurseries already up and running, such as the local St Patrick's Montessori Nursery, which charges £310 a week - far less than the £1,150 per week it is costing the taxpayer to subsidise each MP's child at the Commons creche.
Ben Black, managing director of My Family Care, a leading childcare provider, says: 'Why don't they give MPs with young children extra money to spend on back-up childcare as and when they need to?'
For their part, the London Early Years Foundation, which runs the Commons creche, refused to answer detailed questions.
Spokesman Neil Hart says: 'As for the figures, you know far more than me already. We have got a particular PR plan in place. Our schedule doesn't allow for any publicity in the next few weeks. We will have a full launch for the nursery at some date in the future.'
Presumably, this will be when they have rounded up some more MPs' children to enjoy the shiny new facilities as they look out across Parliament Square.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315031/Britains-expensive-creche----money-wasted.html#ixzz10ZPGp5zE