Editor's view

A week and a half after the general election, after all other main areas seemingly had been parcelled out, the new Department for Education and Skills was finally able to say that schools minister Stephen Timms would have responsibility for the early years. As he is one of the highest ranking ministers in the department, this could be good for the profile of the sector. However, as part of such a big brief, and with the Government's declared emphasis on secondary schools, it is to be hoped that early years education does not slide to the bottom of the agenda. Furthermore, with the split of the old DfEE into the Department for Education and Skills and the Department for Work and Pensions, we face the prospect of childcare and early years education moving further apart in policy decisions. Baroness Hollis of Heigham has been named minister for children and the family, with a brief that includes childcare. This appears to preserve the notion of education for three-to five-year-olds and childcare for the under-threes to get parents back to work, for which the Government was regularly criticised in its last term.