Letters to the Editor: Ditch plans to increase ratios

I first started communicating with childcare minister Elizabeth Truss in March 2012 when she spoke about deregulating childminding. I e-mailed a few times and always received a reply, but it wasn’t until I spoke to other childminders that we realised she was sending a pre-written response to us all.

I then started following her on Twitter and would reply to her tweets in a professional manner. She never replied. The weekend before More Great Childcare was published, I realised she had blocked me. I feel this is totally unprofessional on her part. Last week, I took part in the Mumsnet discussion with her and although she replied to our questions, she never answered them.

My main issues with her proposals are the increase in ratios and the new childminder agencies. I can’t see how having higher qualifications will help you to care and educate more children; you still have only one pair of eyes, two arms and one lap.

Agencies will offer what local authorities used to provide, but at a cost to who? Increased hourly fees to parents? Or a percentage of the childminder’s wage or annual fee? How will this lower the cost of childcare?

If I could say one thing to Ms Truss it would be this: please start listening to the practitioners, experts and parents before your proposals damage our children. Sign our petition at http://tinyurl.com/br3tfbr.

Lisa Fricker, Ofsted registered childminder, Southampton


Runaways services are vital
As the manager of the St Christopher’s Runaways Service, I was interested to read the report that two thirds of English local authorities do not have a specialist project offering one-to-one support to children at risk of running away.

Thanks to funding from the Oak Foundation, St Christopher’s has been given the opportunity to expand its successful pilot project with Enfield Council and provide joint funding to local authorities in London wanting to develop their own dedicated runaways service.

This is a great opportunity for London local authorities to work with us and access our knowledge and experience of running services for young runaways.

I would like to invite those interested to get in touch to see how we can work in partnership to develop a dedicated runaways service in your area.

Fabrizio Proietti, runaways manager, St Christopher’s