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Hello, I'm Susan Kramer, and I'm the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for families.
And I'm here today because I want to hear your views on childcare.
When I talk with families, with both mums and dads,
that's what they tell me they need more than anything else: childcare for the under fives.
And they want not just good quality childcare, which at present they say is unaffordable even if you can find it.
But they also want a programme for their children that would stimulate them, provide development,
and make sure that they start out in life with the best opportunities possible.
And frankly, they don't just want that for working parents, they want that for every parent.
So I thought I would hand over to some other people who will tell you what they think about the gaps in childcare.
But then we need your views, both on the problem and what we should do about it.
I'm Christine Lenehan, I'm a board member of the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign.
We believe that disabled children should have the same access to childcare as their non-disabled peers.
There are two things, however, that get in the way of that.
Access issues, in terms of both physical access and attitudes and affordability.
We believe any programme of work and any consultation needs to address these issues urgently.
Hi, my name's Charlotte; I'm a mum.
Thinking about childcare: the struggles that I've had is finding good childcare
who are able to support me whilst I work flexibly on a part-time basis.
Finding people who can do the hours is incredibly difficult.
Also, through summer holidays, winter holidays - finding childcare that can support parents who are working is difficult.
I've also found that I have to rely on grandparents for childcare support.
I haven't found any programmes for grandparents that can help them get up-to-date with current practices.
One of the key issues that parents throughout childhood tell us at 4Children
is still an issue for them is around childcare for the school-aged children
once they get to school, and through to teenage years too.
Office hours and school hours just don't fit.
Many parents still feel they need extra support
before school, after school, and importantly during school holidays.
Childcare for secondary school children is still needed for so many
and that's a really important area that needs to be developed.
I'm Maxine Hill from Daycare Trust, the Policy and Research Manager.
We're the national childcare campaign organisation and we think one of the main issues facing parents
over the next year is what we're calling the quality cost conundrum.
Quality childcare is incredibly important for parents and for the country as a whole.
And as a country if we value childcare
we need to think about who's going to pay for the quality childcare that parents and children deserve.
I'm Julian Astle, the Director of CentreForum.
When we in the think tank looked at the issue of childcare
what we immediately found was that there was a confusion right at the centre of government policy in this area.
That confusion is this: they seem not to have decided whether fundamentally
the childcare strategy is about helping parents into the labour market, help parents find work, or about preparing children for school.
If it's about preparing children for school, as I believe it should be, then there can't be any justification for the current policy
which targets childcare subsidies only to the children of working parents through the working tax credit.
After all, all the research shows that it is in fact the poorest children in society, many of whom live in workless households,
that stand to benefit the most from a high quality pre-school education.