Labour wants 'big conversation' on early years

Speaking at the Nursery World Business Summit, Tulip Siddiq, shadow minister for children and early years, said that ‘a lot of people feel that the system has failed them’ and that she wanted to ‘speak to people on the ground… so we can look at how we change culture and attitude towards early years, and how to do things differently.

‘Our plan is to launch the big conversation, to really listen and formulate policy with an eye to putting policies in our manifesto.’

During her keynote speech, Ms Siddiq said, ‘I know many of you are genuinely fearful that you will not be able to weather this crisis and that you will join the 14,000 providers that have closed over the past five years. In the medium-term Labour has been arguing that we need to reverse the funding changes from this year and provide targeted support for early years that will be essential for our economic recovery.

‘It strikes me that the fundamental problem here is that early years provision is not valued as an essential public service. And I hate to say that. But over the past decade there has been plenty of different, and not all effective schemes, to try and help families pay for childcare.

'But there has not been a recognition that unless you treat the early years sector as essential, and put its funding on a sustainable footing, then that childcare simply won’t be sustainable, let alone affordable. Even if you pump another billion pounds into tax-free childcare for example.’

She continued, ‘We cannot afford to lose thousands more childcare providers and our economic recovery simply won’t get off the ground if we do.’

One of the key problems was that early years education was still not valued as an essential public service, she said.

‘I think we need to transform it. That requires nurseries and early years providers being treated as part of our education system, rather than an optional extra.’

Ms Siddiq said that Labour would be launching its ‘big conversation’ with the sector soon and that she was keen to hear feedback from providers about what could be done to transform the early years system.

‘Supporting the early years is part of the Labour party’s DNA and I want to start a big conversation with providers, practitioners, experts and families about how we should be providing early education in this country properly.’

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