MISTAKEN IDENTITY The pint-sized former childcare minister Sam Gyimah (now a Lib Dem MP) was mistaken at the Tory Party conference for a prominent, and considerably taller, member of his old team, who also happens to be of Ghanian heritage. According to Twitter, ‘A young Tory activist…went up to Kwasi Kwarteng and said “Sam! I thought you defected?” Oh dear.
FUNDING WINDFALL Councils are putting aside up to 10per cent of their early years budgets in ‘contingency funding’ – designed to fund more places if the population increases – but which should be returned to providers if unspent. Ian Morgan says he got a windfall of £7.5k from Wokingham Borough in unspent money. ‘I urge you to ask your Schools Forums what is this money being used for and if any unspent funds will be returned to providers,’ he said.
SEARCH ME Parents are being asked to apply for funded places directly through ‘online portals’ which allow them to search availability. But one nursery owner wrote, ‘Better the parents understand they have to contact the setting to find out availability and prices, and actually VISIT the setting to decide if they and their child will be happy there. It’s not like booking your car in for an MOT, for heaven’s sake.’
ANOTHER SCAMMER A Cardiff nursery has been the latest to be contacted by a scammer, this time claiming to be ringing from Swansea Crown Court on behalf of a ‘business directory’. He said he was suing them ‘for ending an advertising contract early’. According to the manager, he was ‘very aggressive, but did not leave a name or contact number’. NDNA says settings should never give out any banking details over the phone and always double check a caller’s story with other parties involved. It added, ‘And to ring the police if you suspect fraud or other criminal offence.’
