Provision
Dropping daycare obligation tops policy moves
The early years and childcare sector has been reacting to announcements by children's minister Sarah Teather that the Government will remove the requirement for children's centres in deprived areas to offer full daycare.
Children's minister Sarah Teather
Speaking at the Daycare Trust conference, Ms Teather said, 'I want to limit the burdens on children's centres to make them responsive to local need. At the moment it doesn't make sense to make all children's centres offer full daycare in disadvantaged areas if there is not the take-up to make use of it.'
She also said that the Government intended to legislate to guarantee disadvantaged two-year-olds the free entitlement for 15 hours of early education 'on the statute book by 2013'.
During her keynote speech, Ms Teather said the Government wanted to prioritise child development and focus on early intervention, with funding for Sure Start through early intervention grants.
She said she wanted much more 'flexible and diverse' children's centres and more involvement from the voluntary sector.
'That's why I also announce today that we're going to use the Localism Bill to try to drive forward that change, so that voluntary sector organisations can challenge local authorities to put services out to tender, so that voluntary sector organisations might be much more involved in running centres,' she said.
Expanding on the thinking behind the announcements during a question and answer session, Ms Teather said the Government wanted to give local authorities 'more freedom' to respond to their local communities, so that if the demand was not there for childcare, centres could use their budgets, for example, to prioritise parenting programmes or speech and language therapy.
She told delegates, 'We're trying to have a different relationship with local government where we focus on outcomes. We're going to pilot payment by results so that we can drive that process forward.'
But she said that central Government would no longer tell local authorities what to do to reach the 'hard-to reach groups'.
She added, 'We're not going to measure how many families have been through your system anymore, but we want to know what you've done with them and how you've made a difference.'
The minister was also asked for clarification about the early intervention grant and Sure Start funding. Ms Teather said she would try to make sure the announcement would come in advance of the local government spending settlement.
'I can say that the early intervention grant includes money for Sure Start, it includes money for youth, it includes money around family intervention as well,' she said. 'We're trying to free up local government to make flexible decisions, so we're trying to remove as many ringfences as we can across government, so that local government can prioritise that.'
One private nursery provider said that he was very concerned about the level of free entitlement funding, which in his case only covered 50 per cent of the costs. He said that many nurseries could go bankrupt, and that if nurseries opt out this could lead to a two-tier system.
The children's minister said she was aware of concerns about free entitlement funding in certain areas, but wanted to wait for the single funding formula to bed in before deciding about the way forward.
MAIN POINTS
- Children's centres in deprived areas no longer required to offer full daycare
- Legislation to guarantee free entitlement of 15 hours a week for all disadvantaged two-year-olds from 2013
- Children's centres no longer required to hire both a qualified teacher and an EYP
- End of Government funding for CWDC
- CWDC's functions brought within the DfE by 2012 as it ceases to be a non-departmental public body.
REACTION FROM THE SECTOR
'It would be a grave mistake if children's centres are eventually places attended by only the most disadvantaged.
'If young children and their parents from a wide social spectrum do not get the opportunity to mix, society will be the worse for it.We understand the desire to remove the requirement for children's centres to provide full daycare where there is no demand. We are concerned this may be seen by some local authorities as an easy option to reduce costs regardless of local need.'
Neil Leitch, chief exective of the Pre-school Learning Alliance
'The intention to make the free entitlement to childcare for two-year-olds from the most disadvantaged communities a statutory requirement is welcome. NCMA will continue to work with local authorities to ensure registered childminders are available as a childcare option to all families.'
Catherine Farrell, joint chief executive of the National Childminding Association
'In many deprived areas children's centres provide some of the only high-quality, full-time childcare. If we are going to help parents off welfare and into work, this is vital. Our experience of running centres in disadvantaged areas shows significant demand for childcare places if they are offered in a flexible way.'
Anne Longfield, chief executive of 4Children
'Access to high-quality care and early learning is vital for children from less advantaged backgrounds, but providing full daycare may not be sustainable due to the need to offer it at lower than market rates, or the fact parents may be likely to only take up the free entitlement. Alternative models such as inviting local provision to tender to provide services should be considered.'
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association
'Less than a month on from the Comprehensive Spending Review, indicators from local authorities and children’s centres show the decision to remove the ring-fencing of Sure Start funding is going to have devastating effects on early childhood education and care and support to the most vulnerable families in England.
'Announcements made by the Minister that were presented as measures to reduce bureaucracy and provide additional choice are likely to do nothing other than strip out further the number of established, quality children’s centres led by well qualified and skilled staff, supporting the needs of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.'
Megan Pacey, chief executive of Early Education
