I was encouraged to open the Times on Sunday  morning and see that Professor Kathy Sylva, whom I have met several times and really admire, had written an interesting piece stating that ‘that nursery does the “vast majority” of children under two no harm at all.’  She argues that those who attend average to high-quality nurseries will be able to form better relationships at primary school. The full article makes interesting reading and endorses our work to reduce staff turnover and drive forward quality in all our settings.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/child_health/article7144876.ece?dm_i=2MN,6DMD,5SBSA,FVMD,1

However, yesterday morning the Office for National Statistics published research that showed that the huge investment by the last Government in Early Years has made no impact against their measures of success in improving standards for children. One commentator I read summed it up well really; no one policy was ever going to solve all the problems - getting women back into work, eradicating child poverty, levelling the playing field for children and raising standards. We are now left with a bit of a mess; we have a heavily regulated childcare sector, which has a ‘universal entitlement’ which doesn’t really help children from disadvantaged backgrounds any more than those who have a better start in life, but the entitlement is costing billions of pounds. At present the Government have confirmed that the Early Years Entitlement will rlse, as planned, to 15 hours from September, but in many ways the ONS report could not have come at a worse time. With deep cuts expected from every part of Government, how keen will Local Authorities be to ring fence the EYE? One thing is for sure, if the amount allocated for each session is allowed to decrease, providers will have to make some hard decisions and I predict many will pull out of the scheme all together.

I have followed the political shenanigans over the last month or so with great interest; before the election each party claimed to have policies of some description regarding the Early Years Sector, and most even had a named Minister or Shadow Minister. However, when the coalition Government formed, there was a distinct lack of information about who would take on this portfolio, assuming they had remembered that Early Years even existed, with the swift re-naming of DCSF as the Department of Education.

Many of our trade bodies and larger providers had met with the Conservative Shadow Minister, Maria Miller, who seemed to be increasing her knowledge of the issues facing our sector as time went by. Therefore i was rather disappointed to read that she has gone to the Department of Work and Pensions, where her understanding of the issues of the Single Funding Formula for the Early Years Entitlement might be of limited use!

Today’s brefing paper from the coalition Government is interesting, but still fairly vague on some issues. Most people in our sector, and a huge number of parents, will be pleased to see that Sure Start is going to continue, although it seems likely that more efficient methods of running these services will be sought, and rightly so. I will be interested to see how ministers are going to tackle the thorny issue of funding for 3 and 4 year olds; we are currently grappling with the Code of Practice around delivering the sessions and trying to remain sustainable in some locations, where the hourly rate we are given is nowhere near the true cost of delivering the sessions. We do not want to see a 2-tier system, but getting the balance right between parental choice and truly putting the child at the heart of everything is a tricky one.

We all know that future rounds of spending cuts are going to be painful and we are still not sure where the axe will fall. Hopefully the sector will get the best of both worlds; less interference in how we run our settings, combined with recognition that the State can not provide the levels of Early Years Education that they wish to without relying on the private sector. Watch this space……

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1265446/Single-mother-soldier-wins-discrimination-case-Army-failed-provide-adequate-childcare.html?dm_i=2MN,4BF3,5SBSA,DE5O,1

I read with interest how a female soldier won a tribunal claim against the MOD last week, as they had not provided the childcare she needed to fulfil her duties as a soldier. We operate 4 nurseries, soon to be 5, on MOD bases around the UK, so this will undoubtedly be a much discussed issue with many of the serving parents who use our facilities. As an ex-soldier and working mother, I felt that there were many careers where I could manage to juggle my working responsibilities with that of being a mother, but as I didn’t want to deploy for 6 months at a time on operational tours (whilst my husband was also serving), it was time to leave the Army and look for a different career.

As a company we work really hard to support parents who are in the military and may be away for prolonged periods of time. Children like to talk about where their parents may be and we have had lots of displays up with postcards from around the world and photographs of Mum or Dad in their temporary location, which the children enjoy pointing to and talking about. However, all working parents, whether military or civilian, have demands on their time and will at some time or another have difficulty in juggling work and children. I can’t help but feel that this judgement will only place further strain on an already under-funded military and could be better spent on helping front-line troops. We all have to make choices and ask any working parent if it is easy, particularly as a single parent, and not many will say ‘yes’.

Hopefully some positives will come out of this case and perhaps the MOD will look more closely at the provision of childcare on MOD bases, as in some places it is fairly woeful. However, the responsibility for arranging childcare and being available for work must surely lie firmly with the individual, whichever career path they choose?

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