Description: "Policy Exchange is an independent think tank whose mission is to develop and promote new policy ideas which will foster a free society based on strong communities, personal freedom, limited government, national self-confidence and an enterprise culture." According to Little Britons, a new report into childcare choice for the think tank Policy Exchange, parents in Britain still pay 70 per cent of their childcare costs compared to the European average of 30 per cent. This is in spite of a decade of intensive reform and total spending of £17 billion from 1997 to 2006 on services for young children. The report suggests that parents' preferences for childcare are not being met by the options currently available. The Government's basic aim has been to encourage as many mothers as possible into paid work &em; and for children to be placed in formal childcare settings - but women would actually prefer, in many cases, for their children to be cared for in their own homes, the report concludes. 'Little Britons', compiled with the assistance of Dr Catherine Hakim of the LSE, critically analyses existing research on parental preferences for childcare, assesses the current childcare market through the Sure Start policy package and determines what families currently receive in terms of financial support through the childcare element of the Working Tax Credit (WTC) before making radical, cost suggestions for reform of childcare provision in Britain to enable parents to exercise meaningful choice. The report recommends a demand rather than supply side method of financial assistance to provide parents with greater choice.