Giving 40 per cent of all two-year-olds 15 hours of free nursery education and care by 2014 is a laudable aim which, if successful, could prove a landmark achievement in welfare and early intervention.
While the sector wholeheartedly supports the free entitlement programme in principle, it has yet to be widely convinced of its viability. The phased approach to delivery (see timeline) has not so far dispelled anxieties. In many areas Government funding has fallen short of the actual cost of offering the sessions. Other expensive implications within the offer, such as staffing levels, training and capital investment, are well documented.
The Government hopes the early years sector will take comfort from the fact that from April 2013 funding for the scheme will be allocated to local authorities through the Dedicated Schools Grant, which is ring-fenced for spending on education, unlike the Early Intervention Grant which funds children's centres and other childcare services. It promises that the extra amount invested in early education will have risen by more than £1 billion a year by 2014.
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