The National Day Nurseries Association said the private and voluntary sector must be included in any support for childcare, while the Early Years Alliance said the focus must be on investment in the sector, not deregulating it – a reference to Government plans to cut staff: child ratios.
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), said, ‘As the fifth education secretary in the past year, he has an overflowing in-tray. We now hope to see some continuity and stability in this department.
‘His priority must be to invest sufficiently in the early years sector and its workforce, because they make all the difference to children’s education and ultimately, life chances.
‘Any package of support for businesses must include childcare providers in both the private and voluntary sectors. Nurseries need to be made exempt from paying business rates and VAT, which would put them on a level playing field with local authority settings and schools. In order to remain sustainable and avoid more hikes in parental fees, Mr Malthouse should ensure government funding rates for two, three and four-year-olds are given a meaningful boost, then must keep pace with inflation.
‘In her first speech as Prime Minister Liz Truss referred to the need to help families. One vital way of doing this is to make childcare and early education more affordable by bringing the government contribution into line with other OECD countries.’
Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said, ‘There’s no doubt he takes on the role at an extremely challenging time for the early years sector as we continue to battle through an early years funding crisis, severe recruitment and retention challenges and the impact of soaring costs. Now more than ever, it is vital that the new education secretary works with the sector to ensure that the sector can thrive, and not just survive: this means a focus on investing in the early years, not deregulating it.
‘The early years is a vital part of the education sector and should be treated as such. We hope that Mr Malthouse will lead the way in valuing the sector and putting forward a long-term plan that is underpinned by adequate long-term funding, focuses on the needs of the child and recognises the early years workforce as the high-quality and hardworking educators they are.’
The National Children’s Bureau tweeted, 'We welcome @kitmalthouse to the post of Secretary of State for Education. We look forward to working with him at this critical time for children and young people and understanding how building back childhood will be at the heart of his approach.'
Schools
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said, 'This is one of the most important jobs in Government though you wouldn’t think so given the way the role has been treated as an afterthought in recent years. In the past 8 years we have had nine Education Secretaries.
'Children and young people are paying the price for this constant upheaval and the lack of grip and understanding on the many issues facing the education service. These include the chronic underfunding of our schools and the immediate issue of how schools will weather the cost-of-living crisis and pay their gas and electricity bills, teacher pay, workload, teacher recruitment and retention and rising levels of child poverty.
'The Education Secretary cannot ignore the problems. Our current education system is on its knees despite the huge efforts of school, leaders, teachers and support staff to plaster over the cracks.'
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said, 'He is starting his role at a critical time. School costs have sky-rocketed and staff morale has plummeted. The disadvantage gap is at a 10-year high, whilst recruitment to teacher-training falls towards a 10-year low. To put education back on an even-keel will require sharp-elbows in securing emergency funding from Treasury. But it will also require a willingness to listen to and work with the teaching profession, to achieve our shared goal of improving life-chances for all. Right now, the stakes could not be higher.
'Schools need investment not cuts in order to repair the damage done to pupils by the pandemic. Just like households and businesses, schools have been hit hard by rising costs – in particular energy.
'Our members are reporting new energy bills of hundreds of thousands of pounds – more than 300 per cent increases in many cases. These and other rising costs were not budgeted for when the government set schools’ funding for the year, and school leaders being forced to make impossible decisions on what to cut in order to keep the lights on. The new Secretary of State’s immediate priority must be to secure financial support for schools before they are forced into making further damaging cuts.'
