Charles Clarke's set-piece speech detailing Labour's plans for a future of affordable childcare was applauded by delegates. But there are still many gaps to be filled before parents know exactly how they will benefit. Daniel Martin investigates.

It was former Playaway presenter Floella Benjamin who introduced the education secretary to the Labour party conference as "the lovely Charles Clarke".

Clarke was certainly one of the most popular figures among delegates at the conference after having just secured a commitment for affordable childcare for all under-fives.

And he was very popular with people from the children's sector who attended the numerous fringe events around the plush hotels of Brighton. Indeed, so surprised were some by the breadth of the commitment that many had serious questions about how affordable "affordable" was.

Still, Labour delegates weren't asking too many questions when they warmly applauded his set-piece speech.

"The General Election will offer the country a choice," he said. "The most important choice of all is the establishment of what is nothing less than an education and childcare revolution in the early years, before five."

Much to do if goals are to be reached

"Educational disadvantage starts early, in the first months and years of life. Providing part-time nursery education for all three- and four-year-olds has been a huge achievement, as has the Sure Start programme and the introduction of tax credits that help pay for the cost of childcare" he claimed.

"But there is much more to do if every child is to start school ready to learn. We have to help working parents join up the education and care the Government provides with the childcare they need to balance their home and working lives.

"I believe that our ambition for universal childcare is as bold and as ambitious as was the determination to create the National Health Service."

Together with the pledge announced the day before by the Prime Minister, that there will be guaranteed childcare available for school-age children alongside a children's centre in every community by the end of the third Labour term, this was a commitment that aroused passions in the hall.

And it seemed like it had cross-government backing: Chancellor Gordon Brown was on board too and had mentioned childcare in his speech.

During the question-and-answer session that followed the speech, delegates stood up one by one to praise Labour's commitment.

Laura Protheroe, a party member from Bristol, said Sure Start "enables children to benefit from education without being held back by circumstances".

She called for full Sure Start, not just children's centres, to be extended across the country.

"It shouldn't be assumed that children and parents in specific areas don't need support," she said. "There are pockets of deprivation in all areas of Bristol; even in some of the affluent areas.

"There may be a time when all parents need advice on behaviour management and nutrition. Extending Sure Start would benefit the rest of society."

Catherine Atkins, Labour candidate for Kensington and Chelsea at the next election, called for the Government's policies on childcare to be made prescriptive.

"We need this so Tory local authorities like mine can't wriggle out of implementing our policies," she told the hall. "You can never trust the Tories to do the right thing. While other councils have been increasing nursery provision, Kensington and Chelsea have been trying to close two nurseries.

"Let us campaign on children's centres and Sure Start but please let us be compulsive so that even in benighted Tory authorities like mine, everyone can live as one."

Sure Start is here to stay

Children's minister Margaret Hodge, who was present on the panel along with Clarke and trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt, agreed.

"Sure Start is here to stay," she said in response to a question about whether it would be available in rural areas. "It's a stunning and wonderful commitment we've made.

"As just one example of the effect they are having, a lot of mums are coming into these Sure Start centres and having cookery lessons. They are learning how to provide cheaper and healthier food for their children by cooking it themselves, not just going to the supermarket and sticking it in a microwave."

Children's centres would enable parents to improve their skills in other ways too, she said. Extra support for parents was a much better solution than a ban on smacking, she added.

Outside the main hall, there was support for the new pledges. At a fringe event, Daycare Trust chair Lisa Harker said the commitments were a "good start".

"It is great to have this very clear ambition for there to be flexible full-day provision for children from three years and upwards and for there to be a Sure Start children's centre in every community," she said. "The challenge is going to be to ensure that those pledges are really affordable to parents and are high-quality, staffed by a workforce that is well-trained.

In particular we need to tackle the deficit that currently exists in terms of places for under-threes.

"We will be looking at the 10-year plan in the pre-Budget report to see how the Government intends to do this."

But Dame Sally Powell, childcare champion at the London Development Agency, was concerned about the shortage of workers. In London alone there is a need for 30,000 more trained practitioners, she said.

"I have a mission: to get more men into childcare," she revealed. "Childcare isn't just an issue for women. It's an issue for men as well. "Our childcare is delivered by a man. For a parent of a young boy, having a male nanny is a really important issue. His father is often not there so having a male influence is important to him."

Hopes for the future

She said London businesses were at last beginning to accept that childcare was not just a social issue, it is an economic one too. "The more people you get into work, the less benefits you have to pay, the more tax you get in and the more there is to spend on better public services," she said.

For the moment, Anne Longfield, chief executive of 4Children, was prepared to celebrate the childcare pledges, and wait until later to ask questions.

"It is easy to be blase about this but this is the culmination of 15 years of very hard work from an awful lot of people," she said.

Back in the conference theatre, Floella Benjamin was summing up. Seen by some as a candidate for the post of England's first children's commissioner, she was doing some serious campaigning.

"I've worked with children for 30 years and I know that you've got to do a lot in the early years to give them the capital H in hope for the future," she stated.

And Patricia Hewitt, who earlier in the week had confirmed plans to extend paid parental leave from six to 12 months, made one final party political point.

"How we support parents and carers and enable them to fulfil their responsibilities and enable them to balance their lives is going to be an absolutely central issue in the next General Election," she told delegates. "We now have a programme that really offers choice to families, so all families can decide for themselves whether they want to stay at home with their children when they are young, or whether they want help with their childcare if they need to work full time.

"This is not about telling parents what to do. And it will give us a winning appeal to people at the next election."

And, with an election expected within the next year, that's just what Labour delegates wanted to hear.

PARTY PLEDGES

- Parents of all under-fives will be able to get high-quality, affordable childcare by the end of a third Labour term

- Paid parental leave will be extended from six to 12 months during a third term

- Up to 10,000 a year for the country's best young sports prospects

CONFERENCE SOUNDBITES

Tony Blair, Prime Minister

"We want to make life easier for families. We want more choice for mums at home and at work. We want universal, affordable and flexible childcare for the parents of all three- to 14-year-olds who want it from eight in the morning to six at night and a Sure Start children's centre in every community in Britain."

Dame Denise Platt, chair of the Commission for Social Care Inspection

"Young people need to be given more choice over the services they receive. They say they want more choice on placements, and we need to take that seriously. Young people have said to us they want choice with health and support, and with who does their case reviews. The expansion of schools is a good thing but other places have to be accessible too and provide services. The ability to make choices is a very important element in growing up."

Sonica Neil, Labour member from Ealing Council

"We celebrate Sure Start and the Tories talk of abolishing it. It is a Labour Government that offers a real deal for education. Our offer on early years education will revitalise the way parents interact with their schools."

Jonathan Bister, parliamentary candidate for Chichester

"How is the Government going to deal with the problem of transport to schools, particularly in rural areas like mine? I am worried that specialist schools might encourage people to travel 20 miles to another school. Perhaps we should be putting more into standard comprehensives to make sure they are all good."

Johnny Reynolds, youth spokesman on Labour's national executive committee

"As a young father I believe the Government deserves to be re-elected on the strength of Sure Start alone."

Labour delegate

"My son takes in 3 a day for school meals. There are people who are coming in with 1.75 in vouchers, but the drinks alone cost 75p. We need to do more to ensure that children who are getting subsidies for school meals are getting the right amount through the system."

Charles Clarke, education secretary

"Everything we have said about extended schools and provision of childcare services for under-fives will strengthen the position of rural schools rather than the reverse."

Anne Longfield, chief executive of 4Children

"There were days when we used to argue where childcare should stop and whether it was relevant for children over seven. But at 4Children we believe there is a need for children to have safe places to go right up to the age of 14. Where in the old days neighbours would have looked out for young people, nowadays we do not know who lives in our streets and even then they may be out at work. We need a grown-up discussion, and part of that needs to be with young people and parents. We have kept parents out of that debate for too long."

Labour delegate

"Young people with autism need a highly specialised environment and at the moment we have lots of things in place, which is a godsend. But we don't have a strategy for care of the people who are able to support these children. We need a framework in place to deal with this."