Childcare Bill
Under the new Childcare Bill, councils are to be required to provide enough childcare places for job-seeking or working parents.
Ministers want the legislation to form a part of their drive to provide a universal, affordable network of nurseries and childminders.
The Bill includes a measure forcing all carers looking after children aged under eight to register with Ofsted.
Government Response: Ruth Kelly and Beverly Hughes
Education secretary Ruth Kelly said: "This is truly a landmark Bill - the first ever government legislation devoted specifically to under 5s and childcare.
"Mothers and fathers will have the certainty of knowing that whatever their background, high quality local early years education and childcare services will be available to support them and their children.
"The Bill is part of our drive to create quality childcare for children up to age 14 and a Sure Start children's centre in every community by 2010.
"Within the framework of this legislation, services will be responsive to the needs of the community, making sure that children from families in the most challenging circumstances have the opportunities they need to get the best start in life.
"This Bill confirms the vital role that local authorities will play as strategic leaders, working in partnership across all sectors to shape the delivery of early years services and the future provision of childcare, raising quality and improving outcomes for all children and parents."
Children's minister Beverley Hughes added: "This Bill is emblematic of the government's third term objectives, combining radical reform of services with the focus on improving the life chances of all young children and especially the most disadvantaged.
"It is a truly radical Bill, enshrining in law the duty of local authorities to reduce inequalities amongst the youngest children and improve outcomes for all.
"It brings, for the first time, the provision of integrated early years education and care into the mainstream of the modern welfare state.
"The needs of children and their parents - fathers as well as mothers - are at the heart of this legislation, with local authorities as their champions, ensuring their views are heard in the planning and delivery of services to reflect their real needs.
"This Bill ensures that our vision for a Sure Start children's centre in every community and the integration of education and care into high quality early years provision will have statutory force."
Opposition Response: Conservatives
Shadow secretary of state for the family Theresa May said: "The government's announcement to place the onus for childcare on local authorities is an abdication of responsibility.
"As a result of this Bill, local authorities will literally be left holding the baby. Ministers are washing their hands of the responsibility for ensuring childcare provision, because their own attempts have not met the needs of working families.
"Simply shifting the problem to Local Authorities without providing a penny of additional money will not only do little to solve the problem, it may lead to yet higher council tax bills for many people. Councils cannot simply wave a magic wand and create more childcare places.
"It is ironic that the government are now urging local authorities to work with the private sector, when for so long schemes like Sure Start have actively competed with private providers.
"We know that for every two childcare places the government has created, one has closed elsewhere in the market. This looks very much like Ministers are accepting defeat."
Opposition Response: Liberal Democrats
Commenting on the Childcare Bill, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for children and families, Annette Brooke MP said: "This Bill, whilst broadly welcome, seems likely to gloss over the many serious challenges the childcare sector faces. Reports suggest that new proposals will fail to provide resources for the massive additional costs such as providing more resources to improve care for children with special needs.
"It is vital that the Bill does not force parents back to work, but instead offers parents high quality childcare should they choose to return to the workplace.
"The government must decide whether extending the role of schools amounts to baby sitting or a quality learning experience. At the moment the fear is that local authorities are being given additional duties without the means to deliver."
Stakeholder Response: Association of Teachers and Lecturers
Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "ATL believes the Childcare Bill will only be successful in meeting the needs of children and families if it helps raise the quality of childcare across the board.
"The devil is in the detail, and once again the detail revolves around issues of funding, staffing, and regulation. These must be managed at local authority level, and not forced on individual schools or nurseries.
"We welcome the integration of care and education in the early years, and believe that a coherent and flexible framework for children’s development and learning from birth to five will contribute to raising the quality of provision for all children."
Stakeholder Response: The Wise Group
A spokesperson for the Wise Group told ePolitix.com: "The Wise Group welcome the government's Childcare Act as means to enable economically inactive parents to find and sustain employment.
"As a not-for-profit organisation working with the long term economically inactive and unemployed, many of our clients cite a lack of adequate childcare provision as a significant barrier to returning to work.
"This is particularly true for lone parents: whilst their employment rate is improving, just under 50 per cent of them are still out of work.
"It is widely accepted that the best route out of poverty is employment and it is therefore crucial that out-of-work parents have access to affordable, quality childcare.
"In spring 2005, 15.7 per cent of children were living in a household with no adult in work. The same figure for children living in a lone parent household is even greater, at 22.1 per cent. Figures show that children living under these circumstances are significantly more likely to experience multiple deprivation.
"The Childcare Act should endeavour to tackle these issues and provide the impetus for stakeholders to close the opportunity gap and help more disadvantaged parents into the labour market.
"We are pleased that the Childcare Act will support the government’s Sure Start programme and welcome the drive to further develop an affordable network of childcare and nurseries.
"The Sure Start initiative has proven to be an excellent example of addressing cross-governmental priorities using a joined-up approach.
"The Wise Group works with Sure Start in the North East of England to provide work placements for people who are looking for work.
"We offer clients a range of training options including childcare, community development, business administration, and customer services all within the Sure Start framework.
"Clients are paid a real wage and work towards nationally recognised qualifications whilst receiving employment support from dedicated staff.
"The Wise Group hope that this new legislation will encourage further joint working between stakeholders by highlighting the importance of employment as a means to combat poverty and the importance of childcare provision in making that happen."
Stakeholder Response: Local Government Association
LGA education spokesman councillor Alison King said: "This Bill strengthens our role as the champion of children and parents.
"Councils will be the strategic leader in ensuring parents have access to childcare, and we will be working closely in partnership with the private and voluntary sectors to deliver this.
"But without substantial extra government investment, it is hard to see how this Bill will increase the amount of affordable childcare for low income families and those with disabled children."
"We repeat our call for extra investment from central government to support the creation of the better qualified workforce by 2015.
"To be on track to meet the government's ambitions means investing £200m in the next two years over and above existing resources. If government can't find this money, the cost will be borne either by parents or council tax payers."
Stakeholder Response: 4Children
Anne Longfield, chief executive of 4Children, said: "The provision of a Bill for childcare is a major watershed for children and parents in this country which has the potential to bring support available to them much more in line with that of their European comparators where childcare is part of everyday life and guaranteed by the state.
"The prime minister has set sights high with a commitment for universal childcare for all families who need it.
"What is required, is significant financial support.If childcare is to become the new frontier of the welfare state envisaged by politicians with a new deal of support for all families we need to recognise is that investment needed needs to be ongoing.
"Over the next few years 4Children believes that investment must at least double to deliver on this bold agenda. The Childcare Bill is an important first step towards universal childcare – it must be built upon now to deliver for all."
Stakeholder Response:
Councillor Dame Sally Powell, deputy chairman of the
"This is a vital service for families with young children and for people on low incomes in particular.
"High levels of unemployment are the single greatest cause of child poverty in
"We know that
Stakeholder Responses: The Professional Association of Nursery Nurses (part of PAT)
Tricia Pritchard, senior professional officer, said: "We hope that this will be age-appropriate and flexible as young children develop at different rates. Children of the same age have different abilities."
Deborah Lawson, chairman of the PANN section committee said: "It is important to find the right balance and not have unrealistic expectations of what young children can achieve. Research has indicated the dangers of introducing formal education too early as this can lead to disaffection in later years.
"Prescriptive formal education can be too much too early for children under five.
"Most European countries start formal education much later than in the
"However, a foundation stage that is flexible and able to take account of the different development rates of children would be welcome.
"It must be a strong foundation that children can build on and learn from for the rest of their lives.
"We would welcome measures to improve childcare and early years education as long as they were appropriate for young children."
On the provision for the Ofsted childcare register, Tricia Pritchard added: "We are delighted that the youngest and most vulnerable children will be protected by a compulsory register, although we would like to see the voluntary registration for children up to 14 made compulsory too.
"We would also like to see the current voluntary Childcare Approval Scheme for nannies providing home-based childcare extended and made compulsory.
"We will need to study the details, but PANN welcomes the main aims and provisions of the proposed Childcare Bill, particularly its emphasis on qualifications and standards. We are pleased that the government has formally recognised the importance of childcare."
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