At last week's 4Children conference in London, David Willetts, shadow minister for universities and skills, said that his party wanted to maintain balance in addressing policy across all stages of a child's development.
'Excessive weight is placed on what happens in a child's early years,' he said. 'Within our education system there is a tendency for problems to be pushed back to a stage before, so it goes back down the system. I believe we need to put our shoulders to the wheel at every stage of a child's development.'
Mr Willetts reiterated the Conservative party's commitment to the role of health visitors. He said, 'Key universal provision starts with health visitors, and the decline in numbers needs to be reversed. This will be partly funded out of the health service budget.'
He also explained the thinking behind the proposal to give Sure Start children's centres the option to become co-operatives (News, 25 February). 'This would increase the involvement of health visitors and other professionals, charities, groups and partners,' he said. 'We are aiming for a genuine local service with universal access, and staff paid by results.'
A delegate to the 4Children conferene from a local authority asked Mr Willetts, 'Given the Conservative position, at what point will the role of the local authority get the push?'
Mr Willetts said, 'We are not proposing that the local authority role should come to an end, but we want to see a greater diversity of provision.'
Another delegate asked how co-operatives would ensure sustainability and what would happen if it went 'pear shaped'.
Mr Willetts did not address sustainability but said, 'We hope that co-operatives can break open the provision of Sure Start. We are not proposing a fixed model of how it should work, but would like to see a range of providers being held to account. We would like centres to be true to the original vision of Norman Glass.'
The right to flexible working, reform of the tax credits system and legal rights for grandparents are still among the key planks of Conservative childcare policy.
