NANNIES CONTRIBUTE TO CARE PROVISION
We read with interest Katy Morton's article 'London Assembly considershow to make childcare in the capital more affordable' (online, 4November). We would urge that along with suggesting that localauthorities should be allowed to borrow money based on future businessrates to fund the building of new nurseries, London Assembly membersshould also take into consideration the affordable, accessible andextremely flexible professional childcare provided by nannies.
We agree that families in London face a real struggle when it comes tosourcing reliable, safe childcare to fit with their working hours. Thisis when employing a nanny comes into its own.
When discussing barriers to accessing childcare, the Association ofNanny Agencies (ANA) would like to see those meeting with the LondonAssembly's health and public services committee - organisations such asthe London Early Years Foundation and Daycare Trust in particular -including home childcare options. We would like them to seek to includerepresentation by the nanny sector so that we can draw attention to thevaluable contribution nannies can, and do, make to a working family'slife.
The article reported that the research and strategy director atthink-tank Resolution Foundation told London Assembly members that onesolution to increase the provision of childcare in the capital could beto use tax incremental financing to fund new childcare provision. Webelieve a much more economical route would be to give recognition to allprovision, making greater use of what's already available.
Parents should be able to access the same financial benefits and tax andfamily credits whether they are using a nursery, childminder, orhome-based childcare. This would provide them with greater options andhelp ease the struggle when it comes to finding quality childcare.
ANA strongly believes that by failing to recognise our professionallyqualified nanny sector, we are deliberately making the lives of workingfamilies difficult, and this has an obvious negative impact on economicgrowth.
Angela Spencer, vice-chairperson, ANA
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MAKE WEIGHT CHECKS ROUTINE
Your report of Professor Elsie Taveras' assertion that baby growthcharts can predict children's risk of obesity (online, 9 November) wouldbe spot on if Nursery World were to be available to nursery staff in theUnited States.
Although I would wish that Professor Taveras' proposal might work in theUK, I fear that it could not. The absence of any measure to predictobesity in young children in the UK, as published in the healthdepartment's core universal programme in 2009, the Healthy ChildProgramme - Pregnancy and the First Five Years manual, ismind-blowing.
Although Professor Taveras does not indicate in her paper the ages atwhich American infants are routinely screened, your readers should beaware that their screening far outstrips anything suggested by the HCP.American babies show up for weight assessment at the health clinic atone, two, four, six, nine, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months, whereas the HCPdoes not suggest that British infants have to show up at all!
What is even more remarkable, the manual does not even dictate that abirthweight is taken to provide a baseline measurement.
The American system allows the trend of weight gain to be developed,which is crucial to the diagnosis of overweight - or underweight, forthat matter. The British system does not. Although it mentions the needfor a five-day review of a baby's health, to include important healthproblems such as weight loss, it fails to suggest how anyone could spotweight loss if the baby hadn't been weighed twice in the firstplace.
The manual does call its readers' attention to children at risk ofobesity but, unlike Professor Taveras, does not indicate how that riskis to be assessed.
When we have some 25 per cent of our children overweight or obese by thetime they enter primary school, clearly better advice needs to come fromthe Department to reduce that percentage as early as possible inpre-school life. In my view, the HCP schedule urgently needs to berewritten to take account of it.
In the brave new world of the NHS that we are all looking forward to in2013, it is the HCP that GP consortia will reach out for. If they findnothing written into it in tablets of stone, they will overlook routineweight assessment - and childhood obesity will get worseprogressively.
Tam Fry, honorary chairman, Child Growth Foundation and spokesperson,National Obesity Forum
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