From Monday 2nd September, hundreds of thousands of eligible working parents of children from 9-months-old began to access 15 hours of government-funded early education per week, following the successful rollout from the new Labour government.
For parents of primary school aged children across Ipswich, new “wraparound” childcare places will be available before and after school. This marked an important first step in Labour’s long-term reforms, aimed at delivering an early education and childcare system from the end of parental leave to the end of primary school. This will both boost the life chances of children in Ipswich, and ensure parents do not have to jeopardise their work/life balance because of a poor childcare offer.
I fully welcome this ambitious and much-needed rollout. This announcement constitutes the first stage of Labour’s childcare offer for families in Ipswich, with plans to double access to 30 hours of government-funded early education per week from next September.
Given the dire inheritance from the last Conservative government, substantial challenges remain in rolling this pledge out across the whole country. To deliver what has been promised requires an unprecedented expansion of childcare places and staff.
Whilst this may mean some parents in Ipswich are not able to access their first-choice provider next year, the blame lies squarely and exclusively with the previous Conservative government and their fundamentally broken system.
However, Labour is now taking the bold action needed to deliver the necessary additional places.
I will work with the government to ensure this rollout, as well as future reforms, are properly implemented across Suffolk. Before entering Parliament, I was Labour’s spokesman for children’s services and education on Suffolk County Council, and previously worked as a teaching assistant at a local school, so this is a cause that I care deeply about.
Whilst the Conservatives had promised so much to parents yet delivered so little, which meant that Labour has inherited a broken system, I am pleased the Government has wasted no time in getting to work to fix it.
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