Nursery World - Hughes argues with UNICEF over report criticising UK

Children's minister Beverley Hughes has written to UNICEF to complain about a report on early childhood education which she described as 'poor' and full of inaccuracies.

The report, published on 11 December, set ten benchmarks for evaluating and comparing the early childhood services on offer in 25 countries. It claimed that England met only five (News, 11 December). The five benchmarks that England failed to meet were: parental leave of one year at 50 per cent of salary; a child poverty rate of less than 10 per cent; near-universal outreach of essential child health services; a minimum staff-to-children ratio for four- to five-year-olds in pre-school education of 1:15; and spending 1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on early childhood services.

But Ms Hughes argued that England did meet the last three benchmarks and that the report 'misrepresented' the UK's position on childcare and early learning. She told UNICEF that the report fell 'well short of the high standards we expect from your work'.

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