Editor's view

The Government is standing firm on its insistence that private and voluntary sector nurseries must not charge any top-up fees to parents for nursery education grant sessions (see News, page 4). However, its refusal to tackle the problems faced by both nurseries and local authorities under the new code of practice could have dangerous consequences. A substantial number of nurseries are heading for financial hardship or worse as they subsidise the cost of providing sessions, or pull out of the nursery education grant scheme and lose children to other provision. Local authorities have been told in no uncertain terms that...