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— Pre-school Learning Alliance comments on the National Audit Office report on early years provision

NEWS RELEASE

27 February 2004

Pre-school Learning Alliance comments on the National Audit Office report on early years provision

Commenting on the publication of the National Audit Office report ‘Early Years: Progress in developing high quality childcare and early education accessible to all', Judith Thompson, Chair of the Pre-school Learning Alliance said:

"The Pre-school Learning Alliance welcomes the recognition that early years education is crucial to human development and the need to provide high quality provision for parents and their children".

"The report acknowledges the progress made by Government in delivering the aims of its National Childcare Strategy. It also recognises, as all of us in this field do, the amount of work that still needs to be done to ensure all parents have access to affordable, flexible childcare".

"The Pre-school Learning Alliance has been highly successful in creating new childcare places, exceeding targets set for it by government. 12,000 new places were created by the charity in 2002/03 and the target for 2003/04 of 8,000 new places has already been met, with three months work still remaining. In addition, the Alliance aims to open thirty new Neighbourhood Nurseries by 2005, creating an additional 1,500 places".

"We wholeheartedly agree that early years provision must be sustainable. Long-term revenue funding and effective business planning are crucial to the future of these services. The Alliance currently provides a range of business support services and software packages for all our member pre-schools, to assist in both set-up and longer term planning. This helps to ensure that community based pre-schools continue to be sustainable, enabling them to meet local needs".

"However, while this support is invaluable to pre-schools, we recognise that it is limited. With more stable and long term funding arrangements, the Alliance, with over forty years experience in this area, could provide a much greater level of expansion and sustainability support".

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Andrew Fletcher
Pre-school Learning Alliance
T: 020 7833 0991
Out of hours press calls: 07979 531130
E: Andrew Fletcher

Notes for Editors:

  1. The Pre-school Learning Alliance has 15,000 member pre-schools who look after 500,000 young children and their families in England every year. Registered as an educational charity, the Alliance is the national dimension of the pre-school movement. Its member pre-schools are based in the community and most are managed and run by parents, alongside trained staff.
  2. The Alliance has years of experience in supporting its member groups to develop their provision. The Expansion Project, in conjunction with the charity's community-based development workers, has been instrumental in assisting hundreds of groups to open new places in, for example, lunch clubs and holiday schemes. The project began in June 2002 and has evolved from the Childcare Development Project, which began in January 2000.
  3. The charity is involved in more Sure Start projects than any other organisation and aims to open around 30 Neighbourhood Nurseries by the end of the year.
  4. The charity recently launched the next phase of its changing lives changing life campaign, which seeks to give all children the best possible start in life. For more information visit www.pre-school.org.uk or call 020 7833 0991
  5. Pre-school Learning Alliance members receive a regular magazine (Under Five) reflecting issues affecting the early years sector. If you would like to receive a copy of this please call 020 7833 0991.
  6. Further information and all press releases are available on the Pre-school Learning Alliance's website: www.pre-school.org.uk or email pressoffice@pre-school.org.uk
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