Nursery World - MPs criticise delay in Government response to childcare funding petition

A report calling for an urgent review of childcare funding and how new parents are supported due to the impact of Covid-19 will not be addressed until later this year.

MPs have called for an urgent review of funding for the childcare sector to ensure there are sufficient childcare places for parents to return to work

The Government has been criticised for its failure to respond to the Petitions Committee report with Catherine McKinnell MP, chair of the Petitions Committee, saying that she was ‘extremely disappointed that Government hasn’t recognised the urgency of this issue’.

The report, The impact of Covid-19 on maternity leave and parental leave, was in response to more than 226,000 people who signed an e-petition raising concerns about the dangerous impact the pandemic was having on their children’s development and their own mental health. The petition called for the Government to extend maternity leave by three months with pay, in light of Covid-19.

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