Nursery World - Childcare 'can't save every deprived area'

Bringing in childcare provision will not necessarily regenerate deprived areas, says a new report by the National Centre for Social Research. The report, Childcare: How local markets respond to national initiatives, produced by the NCSR for the Department for Education and Skills, acknowledged that although the Government's concentrating of initiatives such as Neighbourhood Nurseries and children's centres on the 20 per cent most disadvantaged wards in England 'seemed to have succeeded in reaching some key target groups', it did not necessarily lead to new jobs. There remained a lack of employment opportunities for mothers in two of the three deprived areas in the study.

The report, Childcare: How local markets respond to national initiatives, produced by the NCSR for the Department for Education and Skills, acknowledged that although the Government's concentrating of initiatives such as Neighbourhood Nurseries and children's centres on the 20 per cent most disadvantaged wards in England 'seemed to have succeeded in reaching some key target groups', it did not necessarily lead to new jobs. There remained a lack of employment opportunities for mothers in two of the three deprived areas in the study.

The report said, 'The future success of childcare policies in these areas was believed to be closely linked to the success of regeneration policies.'

Register now to continue reading

Thank you for visiting Nursery World and making use of our archive of more than 35,000 expert features, subject guides, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's included