A big enough change for now

By Sue Owen, director of the Early Childhood Unit at the National Children's Bureau

Revolution was in the air this month - well, the word 'revolution', anyway.

The long-awaited ten-year childcare strategy was hailed by many, including children's minister Margaret Hodge, as revolutionary and historic. So why the big words?

There are radical elements in the new strategy, and one is the clear commitment to quality. Treasury officials admitted that at last 'the scales have fallen from our eyes' on the importance of quality; the strategy includes a considered approach to improving and ensuring quality for children. An example is the commitment to more one-to-one care for babies, both through financial support for parents to stay at home and through an investment in more childminding networks.

The strategy tries to make sense of the numerous fragmented initiatives we have seen in the sector recently. Children's centres are seen as a hub for services in each locality, working with 'childcare partners' to ensure a full range of flexible and affordable provision is available for parents.

There is also a welcome recognition that the childcare market is complex and that just channelling more money to parents through the tax and benefits system isn't going to deliver the goods.

Is there a down side? Well, we need more emphasis on quality assurance, especially in a climate in which Ofsted inspections are quietly being reduced from two to three years. There is also very little on how private and voluntary sector provision will be integrated into the strategy. Most important, the strategy moves us away from targets and ring-fenced funding.

This implies a lot of work in lobbying, scrutinising and negotiating to ensure the money is actually spent on implementing and then sustaining the vision.

Maybe not a revolution, but who wanted things turned on their head anyway? More coherence will certainly help for now.

At the Sure Start conference last week Margaret Hodge agreed that expected outcomes might need to be tightened up to ensure that the spirit of the strategy is fully realised in each area.