Why Labour?
Labour wants to make this country the best place for children and young people to grow up in. We are committed to supporting all families, whatever their shape or size, and giving every child the chance to unlock their talent. Labour has radically transformed early years provision. In 1997 there were no free guaranteed nursery places or Sure Start Children’s centres. Today, there are nearly 3,500Sure Start Children’s centres providing childcare, healthcare, early education and family support to more almost two and a half million children and their families.
Key achievements:
- Labour has undertaken the biggest expansion in early years education since 1945; investing £25 billion since 1997.
- Every three and four year old has the right to a free nursery place, which we will extend from 12.5 hours a week to 15 hours by next year.
- There is now an offer in all 152 local authorities of free early learning and childcare for the most disadvantaged 2 year olds.
- At the end of December 2009 there were over 1.3 million registered childcare places, more than double 1997. In 1997, there was one registered childcare place for every 8 children, now there is 1 for every 4 children under 8.
- There are currently 3,381 designated Sure Start Children’s Centres offering services to around 2.7 million young children and their families. We aim to have 3,500 centres by the end of March 2010.
- Labour has expanded nationally the Bookstart scheme which gives every one and two year old a satchel of books and every three and four year old a ‘treasure chest’ of books and crayons.
- There are currently 20,400 schools (95% of all maintained schools) providing access to extended services in partnership with other local schools and providers. The aim is for all schools to be doing this by the end of 2010.
A future fair for all:
- By March this year there will be 3,500 Children’s Centres, one in every community in England.
- We will provide two additional outreach workers to support families at each Sure Start Children’s centre in the 1,500 most disadvantaged areas.
- Labour will provide nursery places for 65,000 two year olds in the most deprived areas by 2012.
- To help parents improve their children’s school attendance and behaviour, we will expand school-based Parent Support Advisers and we will fund two parenting advisers in every local authority over the next three years.
- Our £73 million ‘Free Childcare for Training and Learning for Work’ programme will help low income families across the country to get free childcare so they can access training and return to work
- By next year, Labour will have offered every local authority funding to rebuild or renew 3,500 playgrounds nationally and make them accessible to children with disabilities.
- We will also create 30 new adventure playgrounds for 8 to 13 year-olds in disadvantaged areas, supervised by trained staff.