‘Clear answers’ needed from Sunak over childcare policy, Labour says

The Labour party has called for “clear answers” over Rishi Sunak’s involvement in devising childcare policy after the Treasury revealed officials met a company partly owned by the prime minister’s wife in the run-up to the March Budget.

Helen Hayes, the opposition party’s shadow children and early years minister, said it would “raise eyebrows” that Treasury officials had met ahead of the Budget a company from which the prime minister benefited personally.

The Treasury revealed in response to a freedom of information request from the Financial Times that its officials met a representative of Koru Kids, an agency representing childminders, on February 22 this year.

The company was subsequently one of only six placed on a list of childminder agencies approved by the Treasury on March 15 as part of a Budget announcement meant to boost the number of registered childminders.

The arrangement caused controversy because childminders registering with the agencies receive a £1,200 incentive fee from the government. Those who register direct with Ofsted, the government’s education watchdog, receive a £600 payment.

After the Budget, the Labour party questioned the rationale for the added incentive to register via private companies. There was further controversy after Sunak failed to declare during questioning before the House of Commons Liaison Committee in March that his wife, Akshata Murthy, was a shareholder in Koru Kids.

Asked by the committee whether he had an interest to declare in the issue, Sunak replied: “No. All my disclosures are declared in the normal way.”

Hayes told the Financial Times: “That the Treasury met with a firm from whom the prime minister personally benefits financially ahead of the spring Budget will raise eyebrows.”

Parliament’s standards commissioner, Daniel Greenberg, announced in April he was investigating Sunak under a paragraph of parliament’s rules relating to failure to disclose a relevant interest. MPs are obliged to mention the relevant interests of themselves or close family members when discussing them in parliament.

There has also been criticism that the government took too little time to consider the plans before announcing them.

“The public deserves clear answers from the government on what involvement the prime minister had in his government’s rushed childcare plans,” Hayes said.

Treasury officials also met Tiney, one of the other companies placed on the six-strong register, on February 23 this year, as well as on February 24, 2022.

There is no suggestion that Treasury officials knew of Murthy’s shareholding in Koru Kids when they met the company.

It was “entirely routine” for Treasury officials to engage a “wide range of stakeholders, across a number of sectors,” ahead of any Budget, the government said.

The government added that it was focused on increasing the number of childminders available so that parents across the country had more “choice, affordability and availability”.

It said the higher payment to those using childminder agencies reflected the higher costs of that route.

“This ensures both paths are incentivised fairly,” it added.

Downing Street, meanwhile, reiterated on Friday its insistence that the prime minister had fulfilled his obligations by declaring his interest to the register of ministerial interests.

“All of the prime minister’s interests have been declared in accordance with the process set out in the ministerial code,” it said.