As the comprehensive spending review approaches, it's an opportune time to talk to Margaret Hodge, minister for children, young people and the family, and you can read up on some of her thinking on the Government's plans in our Special Report ('Duty of Care', pages 10-11). As she reveals, early years education and childcare is to receive a 17 per cent real terms increase in funding averaged over three years. While this obviously doesn't bring us near the spending levels (as a proportion of GDP) of Sweden or Denmark, it is a significant rise. The big question, as Mrs Hodge herself points out, is just how that money will be spent 'within the context of the priorities we've set'.
As the comprehensive spending review approaches, it's an opportune time to talk to Margaret Hodge, minister for children, young people and the family, and you can read up on some of her thinking on the Government's plans in our Special Report ('Duty of Care', pages 10-11).
As she reveals, early years education and childcare is to receive a 17 per cent real terms increase in funding averaged over three years. While this obviously doesn't bring us near the spending levels (as a proportion of GDP) of Sweden or Denmark, it is a significant rise. The big question, as Mrs Hodge herself points out, is just how that money will be spent 'within the context of the priorities we've set'.
No Government before the current administration has ever had ambitions on this scale for the development of early years provision, and most people in the sector appreciate that much has changed for the better. But there are still important concerns, including what will happen with funding, when Sure Start programmes reportedly are already unsure of how to spend the money they are being given, and private and voluntary settings feel that they are being excluded from local authority plans and put at a disadvantage.
