It has been heralded as the most important development in childcare in more than half a century, but now it's down on paper, does the Government's 10-year strategy deliver?
It promises to introduce measures to improve choice and flexibility for parents, ensure childcare is available to all, boost its quality and make it more affordable.
The document has been broadly welcomed with the acknowledgement that the vision must be backed by investment.
"The announcements provide a substantial downpayment which will need to be built on year on year," says Anne Longfield, chief executive of 4Children.
Parental pay and leave
The strategy highlights the benefits of one-to-one care for very young children and there is a goal to extend paid maternity leave to one year by the end of the next Parliament. The entitlement will increase from six to nine months from April 2007.
The Government says it will legislate to give mothers the right to transfer some of this paid leave to fathers but dads' groups are disappointed that policy makers have not increased paternity pay or followed Scandinavian countries and introduced a "daddy month".
"International experience shows that the transferability of leave alone will not help many dads to be with their children," says Fathers Direct's Duncan Fisher.
Building on its pledge of 2,500 children's centres by 2008, the Government now promises 3,500 by 2010. There will also be a statutory duty on local authorities to ensure there is enough childcare to meet the needs of local families by 2008.
Childcare providers have welcomed the longer term goal of extending free nursery places for all three- and four-year-olds to 20 hours a week, 38 weeks a year.
This must be backed up with hard cash, according to Rosemary Murphy, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association. "We are already seeing the erosion of nursery education funding by local authorities and unless funding is increased and ringfenced, it is hard to see how day nurseries can be expected to deliver places," she says.
A Transformation Fund of 125m a year from April 2006 was announced for local authorities to invest in childcare.
The strategy flags up New Zealand's ambitious reform programme based around incentive payments for providers based on quality. A review to establish how this cash will be allocated will look at incentive schemes as well as support for childcare businesses, better information for parents, and incorporating parents' views.
Efforts to boost the quality of provision are linked in with workforce reform. The Government wants every daycare setting to be led by a graduate-qualified manager and wants to see more childcare professionals trained to degree level.
It will consult on a new qualification and career structure and new legal framework for regulation and inspection next year.
In 2006 it will propose a single quality framework for children's services from birth to five.
The Government is clear that it expects working parents to contribute to the cost of childcare. Experts have long warned that affordability is one of the main barriers preventing families accessing childcare.
Under the Government's plan, childcare will still be "very expensive", according to Sarah Jackson, chief executive of Working Families.
There will be rises in the childcare element of working tax credits and an increase in the maximum proportion of the cost that can be claimed from 70 to 80 per cent.
More work to be done
But Ruth Sutton, regional executive officer for the Pre-school Learning Alliance, says this is an area that needs more work. "We still need to take a long, hard look at the affordability and accessibility question," she says. "It is really good the document sets out increases in tax credits but we feel the whole system needs to be looked at."
Families in London, where childcare costs and child poverty levels are well above average, should benefit from an extra 5m to develop projects aimed at making childcare more affordable.
Working with the Greater London Authority, the Department for Education and Skills will pilot different approaches including subsidies to childcare providers.
The mood is optimistic but many feel this is just the start on a difficult road to reform. "This is just the beginning," explains Sutton. "The hard work starts now."
KEY PLEDGES
- Childcare tax credits rise for middle- and low-income families.
- Extension of free nursery places to 15, then 20, hours a week
- Increased statutory maternity pay. Paid maternity leave extended to
nine months and eventually one year
- 3,500 children's centres by 2010.
