Clive Lewis For Norwich South

This is the first week of the Government’s rollout of free childcare for children 9 months or older, entitling parents to up to 15 hours of free childcare per week. This is a great first step to ensuring every child has the start they deserve in life.
However, as the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson states, our inheritance from the Tories is dire. Labour is rebuilding a childcare system on the back of long-neglected pillars of early years education: staffing, places and pay.
As a result, local authorities will struggle with plans to extend provision. The Government should look at private equity’s role in creating our childcare crisis. Research by UCL found that private-for-profit nurseries provided 70% of all group-based nursery places. The research also found that staff across the nursery sector are poorly paid, with many being paid below the national living wage.
I welcome this rollout and ask the Government to ensure local authorities have the resources to deal with provision and pay staff well. By tackling private equity profiteering in our early years education system, we can reduce parents’ costs and help children thrive.