Back in January, I asked “What has the government got
against parents and children?”[1]
I pointed out that
- parents with 2 newborns
will get a £1,700 Toddler Tax, because of cut changes to tax credits,
maternity grants and child benefit this April and next
- 401 Sure Start
Children’s Centres have closed since 2010, despite David Cameron and
Nick Clegg both promising that they would back Sure Start
- there had already been a
40 per cent cut in the budgets to train nursery staff, and more cuts are
to come later this year, and
- the government was
proposing that the childcare staff:child ratios for two-year-olds should
be increased from 1:4 to 1:6, while the ratio for under-twos should rise
from 1:3 to 1:4 in nurseries.
Since then, in response to those childcare proposals,
influential parent groups Mumsnet and Netmums have both added
their support to the growing campaign[2] to stop Ministers
increasing the number of children nursery staff and childminders can care for,
after overwhelming opposition to the plans from their members.
Their intervention follows that of Professor Cathy Nutbrown
- the Head of Education at Sheffield University, who was commissioned by the
Government itself to advise on improving the quality of childcare – as she
became the latest expert to describe the plans as “nonsense”. She said
the proposals would “lead to worse, not 'great' childcare…”[3]
She joined Professors Helen Penn and Eva Lloyd, who had been
commissioned to write a report on childcare costs which has been buried by the
Government, warning that “increasing ratios would reduce the quality of care
and create potential safety issues.”[4]
When the Childcare Minister Liz Truss, backed by DPM Nick
Clegg, launched these proposals, she said “I have seen too many chaotic
[childcare] settings, where children are running around. There’s no sense of
purpose.”[5] Now we learn that,
since she became the Childcare Minister in 2012, she has only visited 2
nurseries, both close to her Westminster office and both praised by OFSTED.[6]
What a disgrace; they should both be trussed up!
CLIVE BETTS MP [SHEFFIELD SOUTH EAST]
