Government to refresh Childcare Strategy
Liz Roberts
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
The Government is to set out plans to 'refresh' the Ten-Year Childcare Strategy before Christmas, spelling out the direction of travel for policy on childcare quality and sufficiency.
Graham Archer, deputy director of childcare for the DCSF, speaking at the Daycare Trust's 'Childcare Futures' conference on Tuesday, said that the paper would look at the free entitlement, particularly for two-year-olds, funding and quality.
A new discussion document from the Treasury on working tax credits is also considering how to help parents with childcare costs, said Mr Archer. One of its proposals is to pilot paying parents their actual childcare costs as they fluctuate, rather than an annual average.
Mr Archer detailed the DCSF priorities for taking forward the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS):
* Delivery - through programmes such as Every Child A Talker
* Narrowing the gap in achievement
* Local authority level improvement
* Setting level improvement
* A 2010 review of the EYFS.
