The Budget serves as yet another indication of the political importance of children to New Labour and the likely role that children's policy will play in the election manifesto.
Yet while the headlines are all favourable for the moment, there are still serious issues left for the Government to address, such as the long-term sustainability of Sure Start and its children's centres, and the funding model's dependence, in part, on parents who can afford to pay.
Childcare is not cheap, and the drive to make it more professional, regulated and based on national standards is inevitably pushing up the cost of provision. Yet childcare will only function as one of the main planks in the Government's war on child poverty if it is affordable enough to make it worthwhile for the poorest parents to enter the workforce.
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