The move would, he said, save public money being spent on subsidising the setting, which he claims is running at a £100,000 loss.
The Labour MP has tabled an Early Day motion, to voice his opinions about the 40-place nursery, which he says is attended by 24 children, and running at a projected loss of £100,000 this financial year.
The nursery, which is operated by the London Early Years Foundation (LEYF), opened in 2010 in a space in the Houses of Parliament that was formerly used as a bar.
In 2009, the House of Common's Commission, headed by the speaker John Bercow, acknowledged the need for childcare facilities within the parliamentary estate. Mr Bercow said Parliament was 'behind the times' and needed to be more family-friendly.
Mr Godsiff, who in October 2010 claimed that money spent on the 'unwanted' nursery was wasted, argues that the continual drain on public monies is no longer justifiable when many public nurseries and Sure Start centres are closing, or drastically reducing their provision.
Within his Early Day motion, he says, ‘The decision taken by the House of Commons Commission to convert the extremely popular and well-used Bellamy’s Bar and the Astor Suite in Parliament Street records that this change of use was not put to the House for debate or decision.’
He goes on to highlight the money spent refurbishing Bellamy’s bar – £480,000 two years prior to the decision to convert the building, and the £511,000 plus vat to turn it into a nursery.
‘Out of more than 6,500 people who work on the Parliamentary Estate, only 24 places have been filled, six of which are full-time attendees.
‘The nursery should either increase its fees to break even and to reduce the accumulated deficit, or close and allow the facility to be put to more well-used and income-generating purposes’.
Mr Godsiff told Nursery World, ‘I’m not opposed to nurseries. My own children went to nursery. However, the House of Commons Nursery is totally unsustainable. There was never the demand for places. Converting the space into a nursery was a vanity project driven by a few individuals.
‘Bellamy’s Bar was used by a lot of MPs and was a place you could take guests, but at a stroke it was abolished. MPs were never given a chance to vote.
‘When I walk past the nursery all the children look very happy, but then they would with three practitioners looking after each of them.’
Reacting to his comments, June O’Sulivan, chief executive of LEYF, said, ‘There is no story to this. Roger Godsiff has bad feeling about the bar being converted and doesn’t like the Speaker.
‘He has got his figures wrong. The capital spend on the nursery was £100,000 with the idea being that in three to five years of opening the nursery would have paid for itself.
‘LEYF has nothing to do with applications to the nursery, these are dealt with by the House of Commons Committee.’