Figures collected by research organisation NatCen for its national childcare survey show that the uptake of formal childcare has risen among higher income families. This was one of the main points presented in a seminar in London organised by NatCen and the Daycare Trust on the progress of the National Childcare Strategy so far.
Graham Archer, deputy director of childcare at the DfES, said that there would be no slackening of the pace to create more children's centres. But he added, 'We need to know more about what is going on around the childcare market and how it operates. We have to address how local authorities are going to work with it to provide sufficient levels of childcare.'
Sandy Gordon, a manager at the National Audit Office, said that the next phase of establishing 2,500 children's centres by 2008 would pose challenges. 'There will be less scope to build on existing provision and there is not enough time to properly plan and consult on what is needed,'
he said. 'Local authorities will also have demanding duties placed on them.'
NatCen's statistics show a sharp decline in the number of private daycare providers operating at a profit since 2001. Seminar delegates questioned how the Government was dealing with issues of staffing levels, training and pay.
The NatCen survey, Childcare and Early Years Provision: A study of parents'
use, views and experience can be downloaded at www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR723.pdf.
