Education: Early Years Attainment Gap Debate
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Lord Dubs
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Education: Early Years Attainment Gap
Lord Dubs Excerpts(2 days, 3 hours ago)
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Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
As I outlined to the noble Lord, it is a very big challenge and one that we inherited from the previous Government. We have reinvigorated the recruitment campaign and are focusing on ensuring that we have those staff in place. Although it will be very difficult, we are committed to ensuring that, next September, we deliver that improved entitlement for childcare.
Lord Dubs (Lab)
My Lords, it is good news about increasing the funding for school-based nurseries. Can the Minister say something about childminders? Is there a danger that, if the number of childminders goes down, the net benefit will be less?
Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
My noble friend is right. We have already seen a halving in the number of childminders over recent years. Childminders play an important role for those parents who choose to use them, which is why we have implemented improved support for childminders. We want to maintain their important position in the market.