Last week was important for the children's services sector, with two major announcements that will have a far-reaching effect on children's early years. The first resulted in a deluge of political and media interest as the Government launched the Early Years Foundation Stage, which sets goals for toddlers up to the age of five to work towards and be assessed against (see News, p6).

The second was less widely publicised, but has the potential to be evenmore important; the Department for Education and Skills' Consultation onSchool, Early Years and 14-16 Funding 2008-11. Tucked away amongdescriptions of how the Dedicated Schools Grant and Schools Budget mightbe decided and distributed, are suggestions for how the Government canbest fund and manage early years provision (see Analysis, p12). Perhapsmost importantly, the consultation explores how to pay for the freeentitlement for three- and four-year-olds.

Campaigners have long complained that private and voluntary sectorproviders have been penalised when offering the free entitlement as thefunds often don't cover costs. As a result, bodies like the National DayNurseries Association have become increasingly vocal in demands toringfence this cash and, only last month, its chief executive, PurnimaTanuku, called for the Government to adopt such a policy as part ofChildren Now's ongoing manifesto initiative (Children Now, 28 February-6March).

Much to the sector's relief, this new consultation seems to haverecognised the bind that private and voluntary providers have foundthemselves in when it comes to offering the entitlement, and appears toimplicitly acknowledge that, if a solution isn't found, these settingswill simply refrain from taking part in the initiative altogether.

However, the work hasn't finished here. What is now vital is that thechildren's services profession as a whole - including directors ofchildren's services - comments on these proposals.

At first sight, the document may only seem of interest to childcareprofessionals. But the potential consequence of ignoring this debate isthat the Government's ambitious early years programme ends up intatters, which will then have a huge knock-on effect on localauthorities' chances of successfully implementing the wider Every ChildMatters agenda.