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The funding of nursery education and/or childcare is a management issue on which the Education Department and private providers need to work together with local businesses to provide the variety of options that families with children under 5 require. It will range from full time, year long care to one or two mornings of nursery school. It must have some element of means testing so the present funding is directed to those who really need it. '20 hours free for all 3 and 4 year olds in term time' is not an adequate answer and I am glad it was rejected.
The Education Minister needs to be much more active in seeking business support and funding. They can't expect a large female workforce 37 hours/week all year long and expect the States and the individual to pick up all the inevitable childcare costs.(In the city of London, the 'living wage campaigners' are attending various Bank AGM's to ask why, with the vast profits they are making, their cleaning staff can't afford to live without a second job. Ask our finance firms similar questions about their contribution to childcare costs.)
Mr E Le Quesne – 19.10.07