News
Children’s Minister reinforces coalition move from universal to targeted services
7 Dec 2010
At the 4Children conference What does Big Society mean for children and families?, Children’s Minister Sarah Teather spoke on importance of supporting families and building communities. She said:
...if we are to build a big society, critical to our discussion is how we support families so they flourish and thrive. We need to look at removing the barriers that stop families thriving. This is the time for including families, and this is particularly true for the most vulnerable families.
At another event, she outlined the first steps in the Government’s reform of early education.
Reforms include:
- legislate so that disadvantaged two-year-olds receive 15 hours of free early education a week starting from 2013
- remove the requirement to offer full day care for Sure Start children's centres in the most deprived areas
- reduce bureaucracy for professionals in Sure Start children's centres in the most deprived areas by removing the requirement to hire someone with both Qualified Teacher and Early Years Professional status.
You can download the speech here, and view more detail on the reforms here.
(NCB Early Childhood Unit Bulletin, 2010 (21) 28; Department for Education, 17 November 2010)
