Please sir, may my employer have some more?

From Children & Young People Now:

The Labour Party's female MPs have called for their childcare costs to be covered by the taxpayer, in response to the parliamentary review of government expenses... The response went on to calculate the annual costs of children for MPs at around £18,000. This included £12,000 for childcare services and £1,000 in "accounting fees" and £1,000 on "cleaning"...

Fair enough, they're entitled to ask, I suppose. But who's ready and waiting to back them up..?

... Alison Garnham, chief executive of childcare charity Daycare Trust, supported the committee's claims. "Women MPs are outnumbered by men and if we are serious about tackling this, we need to acknowledge the need to help with childcare. Since so many women entered Parliament from 1997 onwards, we have seen a vast increase in family friendly policies yet it is ironic that many female parliamentarians who led the way in bringing these changes about still do not have their childcare needs met in their own place of work."

The Daycare Trust is of course ninety per cent government funded - feast your eyes on notes 2, 3 and 4 on pages 12 to 14 of their 2009 accounts - and provides or subsidises absolutely no 'daycare' whatsoever. Its entire income is spent on fundraising; policy, research and other projects; consultancy; training; advice and information; and conferences and events