It's likely that few in the early years sector currently campaigning against the proposed relaxation of staff:child ratios realise that the mechanism to change them is in the Children and Families Bill now proceeding through Parliament.And indeed, Labour's amendment to the Bill aimed at enshrining the current ratios in law was voted down by 11 to 9 by the Children and Families Bill Committee.
An interesting insight into this process can be seen in Chris Skidmore MP's backbench diary in the Telegraph on 29 April. He expains that most of the committee's debate on the 300 or so proposed amendments was fairly well-tempered, but that there was a 'major row' over the ratios that went all the way to the vote.
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