Concerns raised about changes to way councils monitor childcare provision

The Bill is currently being debated at the committee stage of the House of Lords.

Clause 76 of the Bill removes section 11 of the Childcare Act 2006, which places a statutory duty on local authorities in England to carry out and publish audits of the sufficiency of childcare in their area every three years.

The Government has said that it wants to remove the duty on local authorities to carry out the assessments to cut down on bureaucracy.

On Monday, Baroness Tyler, proposed that the clause should not be included in the Bill.

‘My key concern is that repealing Section 11 and associated regulations without an effective replacement will effectively revoke the Childcare Act sufficiency duty altogether in many areas,’ she said.

She suggested that it would be better to revise existing regulations, adding that the Government had already reduced guidance on the sufficiency duty from 70 pages to a single page, which she said was going from ‘the sublime to the ridiculous’.

Baroness Tyler, who is also president of the National Children’s Bureau, also cited research carried out by the NCB earlier this year, which found that 20 per cent of parents and local authorities’ early years teams believed that their local authority would not be able to offer sufficient childcare if the local authority duty to provide the sufficiency assessment were removed.

She also pointed out that the Care Bill currently going through Parliament, which is modeled on the Childcare Act, includes a new sufficiency duty for adult social care and said that it was therefore ‘a little odd’ to be removing the same duty in early years provision.

Former children’s minister Baroness Hughes also spoke out against the clause.

However, responding Baroness Northover said that the duty under Section 6 of the Childcare Act that local authorities secure sufficient childcare would remain in place and was ‘paramount’.

She said that the statutory guidance made it clear that local authorities should give an annual report to present to councillors that would also be made available to parents ‘allowing them to hold local authorities to account for ensuring that there is high-quality, affordable childcare in their area.’

Early years organisations have also criticised the plan to remove the duty.

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Alliance, said that local authorities played a vital role in providing support and training to the sector and that their role was being diminished.

‘We’re disappointed that, following Monday’s debate, it looks as though this requirement is likely to be removed. Such a move sends yet another message to the early years sector that local authority involvement in the co-ordination of early years provision is no longer a priority.

‘While many local authorities have expressed concerns that the current regulations on the assessment of childcare sufficiency are overly bureaucratic, to address this by simply removing this requirement entirely is surely the wrong approach.  A better alternative would be to revise the current regulations following a full and proper consultation.’

He added, ‘The proposal to remove the sufficiency assessment requirement again ignores the needs and views of those in the sector, and is yet another sign of an approach to early years policy that is piecemeal and patchy rather than strategic.’

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of National Day Nurseries Association, said, ‘The removal of local authority sufficiency audits does raise concerns. Local authorities and especially those at strategic level within them must ensure they are very aware of what measures they will put in place to ensure they can meet their statutory duty to ensure a sufficient amount of childcare places. This 2006 Childcare Act duty remains in place.

‘Assessing and understanding their current picture of provision, the gaps where needs are not being met and having a strategy to ensure sufficiency will be vital for local authorities to fulfil this duty.

‘Local authorities are also under significant pressure to ensure availability and uptake of early education places for two-year-olds and as this can only be delivered in good or outstanding settings the need to work fully with the sector is clear.’