I have to confess I am astonished to read that 'issues regarding funding... appeared to be news to MPs' (news, 16 April). Having been acampaigner on this matter since summer 2010 under the moniker 'FreeChildcare', I have had the opportunity to discuss the issue of fundingat length with a handful of MPs, including minister for children andfamilies Sarah Teather and parliamentary under-secretary of state forchildren Tim Loughton. In addition, David Fitzgerald, deputy director ofearly years and childcare division at the Department for Education,spent an afternoon at our nursery discussing just this issue.
Is this claim of ignorance just another excuse for this Government totry to fob off the sector with, to justify the continual under-fundingof the free entitlement scheme? My experience suggests that charging oftop-ups is fairly widespread - not as nursery owners try to make a fewextra pounds here and there, but as they struggle to work with a systemthat would cripple them if they didn't charge top-ups.
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