Excerpts from the report:
Extending affordable, high quality early education and care is an increasingly important element in Government strategy. The UK Government has made significant additional investments in pre-school education and care since 1997, with further increases planned over the period to 2007/8. The Government has also set ambitious longer term objectives, including: an end to child poverty by 2020; a Children's Centre in every community; the option of access to integrated, flexible education and care throughout the year for all 3 and 4 year olds; and a primary school offering guaranteed 8am-6pm childcare in every community.
Building on this strategy, what should be the long-term vision for early education and care in the UK?
This report was commissioned from PricewaterhouseCoopers in August 2004 by Daycare Trust and the Social Market Foundation as a contribution to the ongoing debate on the future of early education and care in the UK. The report considers the costs, benefits and options for funding a vision of universal early education and care in 2020 that has been developed jointly by Daycare Trust and the Social Market Foundation. The primary author of the report is John Hawksworth, Head of Macroeconomics at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
We hope that this report will make a valuable contribution to the development of the Government's ten year plan for delivering universal childcare. It sets out an ambitious package of support and services for children from birth to 14 and their families which would rival the best in Europe. While the costs may slightly outweigh the quantifiable economic benefits, we believe that the social benefits of our vision make it very attractive. The report also raises further issues that need to be explored to ensure that quality affordable early education and care are available to all families.