lLive on Parliament

[Mrs Scrubbit]

Live now on Parliament - Education Questions, Truss has been singing the praises for Cm Agencies xx

[Simona]

Live now on Parliament - Education Questions, Truss has been singing the praises for Cm Agencies xx

Has she indeed...how when none are actually operating and still searching for CMs to join?

I will try to find the link later...thanks for sharing

[appleblossom]

Has she indeed...how when none are actually operating and still searching for CMs to join?

I will try to find the link later...thanks for sharing

Our FIS is looking into becoming an agency. They sent a survey out to CM last week to get our views, asking how much we would be prepared to pay etc. They have recently been told the LA are no longer funding the FIS so are looking for other ways to keep going.

[k1rstie]

Interesting apple blossom.

Unless I am a bit think, I cannot think why your fis staff would willingly leave the employment of your local authority, and all the benefits a authority job will bring such as sick pay and pension, to effectively start up their own business?

Is the idea that the local authority runs a profit making ( or profit neutral ) childminding agency business or will your fis staff, as a group of individuals start up the business?

Said I did not really understand it!!!

[Smiley]

Found this from yesterday's debate:

Child Care

8. Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op): What steps he is taking to ensure there is sufficient supply of child care places for the 40% most disadvantaged two-year-olds. [900990]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Elizabeth Truss): After only one month of the programme being available, local authorities have reported to us that 92,000 two-year-olds have received an early education place. That is well on the way to our ultimate goal. In fact, it is 70% of it, which is a tremendous achievement by the local authorities and child care providers that participated. We are doing more work to make sure that childminders, nurseries and school nurseries are able to offer places for next year’s expansion.

Jonathan Reynolds: I thank the Minister for that answer, but is it not the case that the latest figures produced by her own Department suggest that the take-up of the offer for two-year-olds has been lower than intended? This is a flagship policy of the Government, so will the Minister confirm whether she is satisfied with the information that she has just given us, or will she try to make the programme work even better?

Elizabeth Truss: I think that 92,000 places is a fantastic achievement for local authorities. There are disparities across the country, and we are working with local authorities that are behind. I am pleased to tell the hon. Gentleman that 400 two-year-olds have places in his local area of Tameside. We are doing more to ensure that childminders can offer places. All good and outstanding childminders will be able to offer places from this September.

Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con): Many parents want their young children to have home-based child care. What policies does my hon. Friend have to ensure that we can offer places to parents who want that kind of child care?

11 Nov 2013 : Column 628

Elizabeth Truss: I thank my hon. Friend for his question. Unfortunately, the number of childminders reduced by half under the previous Government. We are determined to see the number increase. We are allowing all good and outstanding childminders to offer early education. We are also enabling the establishment of childminding agencies, which will be a one-stop shop for new childminders who want to join the profession and will enable parents to find the home-based care that they want for their children.

Lucy Powell (Manchester Central) (Lab/Co-op): The truth is that under the hon. Lady’s Government, the number of child care places has fallen. As a result, the costs are going up. Families who are already struggling to make ends meet cannot afford to work. When will she get a grip of the child care provision for two-year-olds and older children and tackle the child care crisis that is facing families across the country?

Elizabeth Truss: First, I welcome the shadow Minister to her new position and congratulate her on her well deserved promotion. I am delighted to be working with her on this issue. As I have pointed out, we reported today that 92,000 two-year-olds are in early education places. That compares to 20,000 two-year-olds in 2010. This Government have made massive progress.

Simon Wright (Norwich South) (LD): To make a difference, the additional capacity must be delivered in high-quality settings. Will the Minister discuss with Ofsted the need to ensure that the inspection framework is sufficiently robust to ensure that those providers who want to expand their capacity are challenged to give those from poorer backgrounds the best start in life?

Elizabeth Truss: I completely agree with my hon. Friend. We are ensuring that those places are delivered by good and outstanding nurseries and childminders. This year, the number of early years teachers entering the programme increased by 25%. Those teachers will have the same standards as primary and secondary school teachers. We are improving the quality of the work force, which will ultimately deliver better early education.

[Simona]

Truss continues to confuse the issue...are children receiving 'early education' or 'free childcare' as she keeps hopping from one word to the other

In the evidence she talks of early education but here it is free childcare

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/92000-2-year-olds-already-receiving-free-childcare

Lets remind ourselves that whatever it is.... it is still our subsidy
In addition when we receive 'free education' funding we are not allowed to charge for any care element...so are we now subsiding childcare and can we charge for the education?

Without the inclusion of cms her statistics would be well below the 92,000 she quotes...also she blames the drop in CMs and says it is Labour's fault...but the CMs numbers do not include 'assistants' as they are not in the statistics...something PLA has asked Ofsted to clarify in the recent press release

[appleblossom]

Interesting apple blossom.

Unless I am a bit think, I cannot think why your fis staff would willingly leave the employment of your local authority, and all the benefits a authority job will bring such as sick pay and pension, to effectively start up their own business?

Is the idea that the local authority runs a profit making ( or profit neutral ) childminding agency business or will your fis staff, as a group of individuals start up the business?

Said I did not really understand it!!!

The LA funded the FIS. The FIS was originally a charity (called "PRAMS"), providing info for parents and families, (way back over 20 years ago). In more recent times when it became mandatory for LAs to provide this sort of information and to monitor sufficiency the LA started funding the charity and it became our area's Family Information Service. The LA have now decided to stop funding it and to provide the mandatory parts of the service themselves, such as listing childcare providers on the LA website. The FIS don't want to shut down as they provide employment for long standing staff as well as services which are not mandatory fo the LA; and they feel they still have a service to offer, such as the toy library. So they are looking into forming the childcare agency.