Out-of-school care shortage on agenda

The Daycare Trust's paper, Older and Bolder, published last week, follows in the wake of a Kids' Clubs Network conference last month that highlighted the vacuum in provision for older children (News, 13 December).

The paper explains that while there are more than three million young people aged ten to 14 in England, there are only between 300 and 500 out-of-school clubs for them. It also points out that at present, less than 1m of the funding awarded by the New Opportunities Fund for out-of-school projects in England has gone to provision catering specifically for children aged eight to 14.

The briefing paper blames an absence of coherent design and delivery of public policy for ten-to 14-year-olds. It says that a lack of information for parents, lack of appropriate services and a fragmentation at local government level, compounded further by fragmented and contradictory interventions from central government, have all also played a part in this.

At the launch of the briefing paper Caroline Flint MP, chair of the all-party childcare group and a mother of three teenage children, said reading it had prompted 'waves of empathy'. Young people were often too old for the activities on offer and too young for the youth service. She said out-of-school provision could play a crucial role in supporting vulnerable children involved in crime or at risk, but it was also important to keep the vision of 'something for all', as well as specific projects targeted at the most vulnerable.

Daycare Trust director Stephen Burke said recent statistics on school exclusions and mobile phone thefts from children highlighted that this was a neglected age group. He said, 'The national childcare strategy covers nought to 14. The most recent developments have been nought to eight. I think we have got an opportunity to address that.' Mr Burke noted that a number of reviews of Government spending were under way and said, 'The decisions made in the next six months will affect childcare for years and years to come. It's crucial that we are ambitious and seek to achieve childcare for all by 2020 and aspire to provide the best childcare in Europe.' The report costs 5 from the Daycare Trust on 020 7840 3350.