Parents demand right to decide if childminders can resort to smacking children

Parents think they and not the Government should decide whether childminders should be allowed to smack children, according to a poll.

Parents think they and not the Government should decide whether childminders should be allowed to smack children, according to a poll.

They also reject the idea that officials should rule whether childminders should smoke in children's presence.

Ministers said the independent survey by a polling organisation vindicated their view that it should be left to parents and childminders to decide whether to allow smacking. Children's charities reacted angrily earlier this year when the Government proposed that parents should be free to make their own arrangements with childminders about smacking and smoking.

The National Childminders' Association argued that children under two should never be smacked and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said the proposals were unacceptable.

Regulations standardising daycare for children will come into force next year. People working in nurseries, creches, nursery schools, out-of-school clubs and playgroups are not allowed to smack children or to smoke in their presence.

The poll of 1031 parents, which was commissioned by the Government, found that 83 per cent of parents agree with the Government's view that they should take the decisions about childminders' right to smack their children. Only 10 per cent think that the Government should decide.

On smoking, 74 per cent of parents think that parents should decide whether a childminder should be able to smoke in the presence of their child. A fifth think it should be up to the Government.

Margaret Hodge, the employment and equal opportunities minister, pointed out that the new regulations would be the first national minimum standards for daycare.

She said: "We have to strike the right balance between the freedom of parents to determine how their childminders care for children in private homes and the views of some childcare groups who want childminders treated the same as other providers."