Your Opinion: Letters

WHAT BORIS FAILED TO SAY

With reference to the column by Boris Johnson MP, Conservative candidate for Mayor of London (In My View, 10 April), I am pleased he has admitted that childcare is an important social policy issue. However, this is not the view of the national Conservative party, which still wants to reduce spending on childcare.

Mr Johnson rightly draws attention to good-quality childcare and to ensuring sufficient childcare places are available. Both of these were key aims of the 1998 National Childcare Strategy. And they are key aims of Sure Start, children's centres and the 2006 Childcare Act, all Labour initiatives that the Conservative party has opposed.

He says he will encourage employers to support childcare, but already parents can ask employers to do that; and there are tax advantages available to both employer and parent.

Mr Johnson should have been talking about celebrating the work of childcare providers across London, and the many adventure playgrounds in London that provide opportunities for children to play in safe environments. He should have acknowledged the Children's and Young People's Plan published by the Government and should be supporting its plan for a national play strategy.

While he picks up on certain points to do with childcare, he failed to really use his column to say what he would do to make more childcare more readily available to the hard-working families of the capital. His column was full of electioneering, but he failed to mention that we are about to see massive changes to the regulation, inspection and operation of childcare, through the EYFS going live in September. The EYFS will advance the sector and continue to raise the quality of childcare.

The Labour Government made childcare a social and political issue in 1997, but other parties have failed to recognise its importance. Now maybe Boris will be able to influence his own party's policy on our children.

Michael Tombs, Michael Tombs Childcare Services, Doncaster, South Yorkshire

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LOVE AND MONEY

National Day Nurseries Association has read with interest about the Institute for Public Policy Research's report For Love or Money (News, 10 April). However, despite its highlighting of how the sector faces difficulties in terms of raising wages and undertaking staff development, due to a reliance on parents' fees, the report seems to have been used by some to propagate the incorrect perception that private providers are only 'motivated by profit'.

Many private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers are working in a barely sustainable environment. Every cost increase has an impact and parents cannot afford to pay more. Lack of profit means settings cannot afford to develop staff to higher levels and pay them increased salaries.

It is also vital that we do not fuel the image of the private sector as 'profit-greedy'. Most PVI providers are driven by a desire to supply an excellent service for families.

Pay is an issue, and the desire to improve this is there - along with a real ambition to grow staff skills to raise quality further. However, as the IPPR report highlights, it is difficult to see how 'a world-class early years sector, with a fairly paid workforce, can be delivered on existing levels of spending'. NDNA believes increased Government investment is vital.

Without direct Government investment for salaries, the PVI sector simply cannot work to national salary scales. The sector is committed to developing its staff but has many questions about how to pay for this without raising fees significantly. This is why NDNA believes it is vital we ensure that initiatives such as the Graduate Level Leader Fund work for the sector, and are extended to other qualification levels.

The PVI sectors do a fantastic job for children and families, often for little reward or recognition. We should focus on how we can support these sectors to achieve the Government's vision while rewarding staff accordingly and keeping childcare affordable.

Purnima Tanuku, CEO, National Day Nurseries Association.