Leading organisations including the British Association of SocialWorkers, the Children's Workforce Development Council and public sectorunion Unison have all voiced strong opposition to the proposals in theChildcare Bill consultation.
These suggest introducing a voluntary register for community-basedchildcare for over fives.
The development council said registration "should not be optional",while the British Association of Social Workers added it would mean "anunnecessary loophole in the system, which ultimately could result insome children being poorly cared for".
"A voluntary approach is inadequate," added Unison's senior nationalofficer Jon Richards in the organisation's official response. "It willallow undesirable individuals an opportunity to exploit holes in thesystem and lead to more high-profile abuse cases."
Children's minister Beverley Hughes has said the Government will lookagain at the proposals (Children Now, 28 September-4 October).
The consultation also raised concern about the cost and scope of a newduty on local authorities to ensure sufficient childcare and promptedcalls for better partnership working.
This week a survey by The Nursery and Childcare Market magazine revealedmost private day nurseries are only three-quarters full despite anational shortage of childcare places. An increase in government-fundedchildcare has been blamed for the fall in daycare occupancy levels,which are the lowest in five years.
The Government anticipates the duty can be fulfilled at no extra cost tolocal authorities but many organisations responding to the consultationhave warned this is unrealistic. The Department for Education and Skillsspokeswoman said: "The findings will be used to inform future workacross a range of areas - including the Childcare Bill, which we arehoping to introduce this autumn."
- See feature, p20.
