Rosemary Murphy, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, welcomed the increases in childcare tax credits but said parents would 'still be left paying the lion's share of childcare costs'.
The charity 4Children called the strategy 'a major watershed'. However, chief executive Anne Longfield said the Chancellor's pledges amounted to 'a substantial downpayment, which will need to be built on year on year'.
4Children estimates that around 1.4 billion of investment is needed per year over the next six years simply to deliver the extended schools element of the strategy.
'If the Government achieves its target of 50 per cent of schools to offer this service by 2008, through existing investment, then an extra 1.7 billion will be needed in each of the three years up to 2010 to achieve services within every community,' said Ms Longfield.
Rosemary Murphy said that a promise of an extra one million childcare places may be 'headline grabbing', but warned that with nurseries across the country reporting falls in occupancy, affordability had to be tackled.
She added, 'Places must not be created in blanket initiatives. It is essential that careful audits of parental need and existing provision of childcare are a prerequisite for any expansion plans.'
Ms Murphy welcomed an extension of free nursery education provision for three- and four-year-olds, but warned, 'We are already seeing top-slicing and erosion of nursery education funding by local authorities. Unless funding is significantly increased and ring-fenced, it is hard to see how private and voluntary sector day nurseries can be expected to deliver places.'
Gill Haynes, chief executive of the National Childminding Association, said the NCMA looked forward to working with the Government 'to ensure that professional, dedicated, quality-assured childminders continue to form a valuable part in future childcare choice'.
Children in Scotland called on the Scottish Executive to develop universal services for children which integrate care and learning. 'The most logical step would be to extend the current part-time nursery provision to full-time,' said chief executive Bronwen Cohen.
Stephen Burke, director of the Daycare Trust, said the strategy demonstrated that the Government recognised that 'much needs to be done to make our childcare services match the standards of the best in Europe'.
