Fears raised over PVI and councils

Concerns about how local authorities will work in partnership with private and voluntary providers to improve early years services were underlined by the Pre-school Learning Alliance last week. Speaking at its conference, 'Commissioning Children's Services: Partnership in Action', PLAchief executive Steve Alexander said, 'There is unease about how this will practically come together under the implementation plan for the ten-year childcare strategy. The PVI sector is diverse and needs project-based funding to support it. The funding process should not be highly bureaucratic because we are not talking about commissioning tangibles.'