Councils fail to monitor ethnic reach

By Lauren Higgs Wednesday, 21 May 2008

Local authorities are failing in their duty to monitor how many ethnic minority families use childcare services, according to a report.

Public service providers are required to monitor ethnic participation

The Daycare Trust study, published today (21 May), found some local authorities were unaware that public service providers are required by law to monitor ethnic minority participation.

Of the local authorities that did carry out ethnicity monitoring, data was often patchy and unsuitable for analysis. The Daycare Trust asked 44 local authorities whether ethnic minority groups miss out on accessing services, and 27 chose not to answer the question or said they had insufficient data.

All the local authorities questioned claimed they had problems collecting data. Some alleged local childcare providers were obstructive in providing information about ethnicity, over fears of being criticised for not being sufficiently diverse.

Local authorities also blamed a shortage of resources for the lack of coherent data. In some cases authorities resorted to collecting ethnicity data from other sources including primary care trusts and Jobcentre Plus.

However, report author Jonathan Rallings said monitoring practice has improved since 2002, when the Daycare Trust's research into equality and childcare began. "We found a mixed picture out there currently, with local authorities approaching monitoring with different methods," he said.

However, the report warned that without proper monitoring of ethnic minority participation, local authorities are unable to target childcare services for the families most in need. It recommended the government should consider making ethnicity monitoring, for both childcare take-up and the childcare workforce, a requirement of childcare sufficiency assessments and the Childcare Census. It also suggests a review of information sharing policy could help authorities obtain better ethnicity data.

A Department for Children, Schools and Families spokeswoman said: "We have produced a specific marketing campaign to promote the free early education entitlement for three- and four-year-olds to Asian parents and are working with a number of local authorities on best practice in engaging black and minority ethnic communities with childcare."

- www.cypnow.co.uk/doc.