DFE response - not consulting on agencies?
I have clearly misunderstood when I filled in the parliamentary consultations on the children's and family bill/more great childcare. I thought I was being asked for my opinions because they were important and could inform Governmental policy. The reply below makes me think it was all a waste of time and as others have said, agencies are a done deal.
I am taking my complaint forward as I feel it was a formal consultation and if not it feels like a huge waste of tax payers money. I am also complaining because I have asked very specific questions and I am not getting proper answers and these people are answerable to me - and certainly will be when I vote next time.
What do you make of this reply?
" On your first question about why the Department has not given the names of the organisations who are working with us, we would not normally give out this information unless we had permission from them to do so. However, I can assure you that we are working with a range of organisations who are representative of the sector. That said, one organisation, the ******* (Independent Childminders Association – Social Enterprise), has stated publicly that they are on the Government’s ‘Childminder Agencies task and finish group’.
Turning to your questions about consultation, evidence from consultation and the rules regarding consultation, these are quite closely linked so I will cover them together. As you are no doubt aware, the Government set out its intention to enable the creation of childminder agencies in its document More great childcare, published on 29 January. We should be clear that the Government has not formally consulted publicly on its proposal to facilitate the setting up of childminder agencies and neither does it plan to do so, although it has not ruled out trialling or consulting on specific issues around agencies. Any formal consultation will be published our website here
However, it is important to remember that the Government’s plans are subject to the passage of the Children and Families Bill which is currently before the House of Commons. The Government recently published its statement of policy intention and draft indicative regulations, both of which give more information on the Government’s plans and these can be found here
In relation to your question on the minister meeting Northamptonshire childminders, this will be covered in her reply to Ms Leadsom.
Finally, on your question about who to contact to make a formal complaint, full details of our complaints process are available here
I hope this information is helpful.
Your correspondence has been allocated reference number 2013/0018332. If you need to respond to us, please visit: www.education.gov.uk/contactus and quote your reference number.
As part of our commitment to improving the service we provide to our customers, we are interested in hearing your views and would welcome your comments via our website at: www.education.gov.uk/pcusurvey
Yours sincerely
Helen Murty
Ministerial and Public Communications Division
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