Lib Dems offer free early years childcare

As part of children's strategy The Best Start for Children, The Best Deal for Families the Lib Dems want to see 20 hours of free childcare for all children aged between 18 months and five years.

The party also wants to see children's centres adopt a similar role to teaching hospitals and take the lead on local childcare training. This includes providing a crèche for children being looked after by childminders to give them time to take courses.

Other measures include overhauling maternity and paternity leave to create 19 months entitlement for parental leave that both parents share.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said: "Britain is a long way off becoming a child-friendly country. Our childcare provisions are among the worst in Europe. They discriminate against workless parents and freeze fathers out of looking after their young children."

At the Daycare Trust's national conference last week Clegg also said he wanted more men to join the childcare workforce.

Although the strategy makes no mention of this a spokesman said: "This is something we are continuing to look at. This latest strategy contains initial proposals and further details will be released in due course."