Nursery World - LDA to fund small employer nurseries

A 16.8m national scheme to set up workplace nurseries in small and medium-sized businesses is to be managed by the London Development Agency (LDA), children's minister Beverley Hughes announced last week. Launching the Workplace Nurseries Capital initiative, Ms Hughes encouraged local authorities to embrace childcare partnerships with businesses.

Launching the Workplace Nurseries Capital initiative, Ms Hughes encouraged local authorities to embrace childcare partnerships with businesses.

She told delegates at a conference organised by Local Government Chronicle, 'We want to ask employers to help assess the childcare needs of their staff and raise awareness of the importance of family-friendly policies. I want to see local authorities working closely with business as well as voluntary and private providers to ensure a diverse range of high-quality care is available in every locality.'

The LDA will consult with the other eight regional development agencies, local authorities and employers up to next year before beginning to distribute funds. The closing date for the scheme will be March 2008.

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