Tulip Siddiq MP

• THE first three to five years of a child’s life can have the biggest impact on their future development and good early education for all does great things for individual prosperity and social mobility.

It is for those reasons why I am extremely proud to be the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Early Years and Childcare.

Over the past year we have lobbied for childcare settings from Camden to Cornwall to have their concerns heard and then acted upon by ministers.

These efforts culminated in our annual lobby day, in which over 50 MPs and ministers attended to learn about the challenges facing the sector in greater detail. And those challenges are significant.

Research conducted by the National Day Nurseries Association has shown a 47 per cent increase in setting closures since the introduction of the government’s 30-hours policy in September 2017.

Additionally, the Pre-School Learning Alliance state that nearly four in 10 providers are uncertain whether or not they will be offering 30-hours places in a year’s time.

Unfortunately the 30-hours entitlement is not the only issue, with providers also confronting business rates, staff costs and recruitment challenges.

Though we are currently in parliamentary recess, the government’s spending review is just around the corner. As such, I have written to the secretary of state for education asking how his department intends to give childcare settings across the country the support they need.

This is a crucial policy area and getting it right will be critical to the life chances of the country’s most vulnerable.

TULIP SIDDIQ MP
Labour, Hampstead & Kilburn