Editor's view

What price universal childcare? As publication of the Government's ten-year plan looms, various lobbying organisations have been coming up with some firm figures for the funding needed to make the vision achievable (see News, page 4 and Special Report, pages 10-11). The cost of opening schools from 8am to 6pm is predicted by children's charity 4Children to be £500m for start-up, then £10bn a year for ten years. The 2020 vision of the Daycare Trust and the Social Market Foundation, costed by PriceWaterhouse Coopers and including extended parental leave, extended free provision for three-and four-year-olds, free provision for two-year-olds and...