Policy and Politics
Childcare, literacy, play and early years transition hit by cutbacks
More details of where the Government's axe will fall have emerged, with children's play, literacy initiatives and childcare subsidies for parents training to get back into work all due to suffer cutbacks.
The latest victims of the cuts include:
- Every Child a Reader, which faces cuts of £5m over the next year. No decision has been made on the future of the programme.
- The Play Strategy, which will lose £5m in funding, but which was widely expected to be scrapped after reports emerged that a treasury aide had highlighted it as an example of inefficient government spending. Savings are to be made by scaling back non-capital related projects and reducing the role of national delivery partners. However, the Government has pledged to maintain capital funding this year so that play sites can continue to be refurbished.
- The Play Shaper programme, a national professional development programme, funded by the DfE, which encourages local authorities to consider children's play when planning towns and cities, is to be scaled back.
Two early years pilot schemes aimed at improving children's transitions have been scrapped:
- Buddying - a programme aimed at promoting joint working and information sharing between staff in early years settings and schools.
- The 0-7 Partnership scheme, which was designed to help ease children's transition between early years and primary school.
Childcare for Training and Learning for Work, a pilot that provides up to £175 per week for parents who want to upskill or train to get back into work, faces cuts of £10m.
A spokesperson for the DfE said, ‘The Buddying and 0-7 pilots have been running for some time and we hope that they have become more mainstream. Take-up for the Childcare for Training and Learning for Work programme was lower than expected, but there will still be sufficient funding for any parents who wish to take it up. We will be reviewing the impact that the cuts have.'
