Eastbourne is home to 35 nurseries and many more childminders who do wonderful work looking after our children.
This is a sector I very much support and value and I have visited many nurseries over the years to see their good work and dedication.
This September 15 hours of free childcare for nine-month-olds is due to go live and 30 hours free childcare for all under-fives should be in place from September next year.
This is an £8 billion investment by the government over the next few years in helping families pay for the cost of childcare. It will help support parents back into work.
The rollout of the new childcare provision is phased to allow the early years sector to build capacity. Ministers are aware this will take time but already there are 13,000 more staff working in the sector than last year.
Through my work on the Education Select Committee I know there are going to be challenges in such a big expansion so I am going to write to all our childcare providers to ask them how it is going and what I can to support them. I would most particularly like childminders to get in touch too. They are vital to the sector.
There is certainly a great demand for nursery and childminder places and the extension of free hours should stimulate the supply side as the months go on.
During this Easter school holiday, a number of Holiday Activities and Food programme activities have been running in Eastbourne.
This is a government-backed initiative, and I am a champion of it. It allows children from low-income households access to free educational activities during the holidays with lunch provided for them. It’s also designed to help working parents.
I see this as an important part of any levelling-up mission. School ‘holidays’ amount to a third of the year. Opportunities for new experiences, new skills and new friends build that all important confidence and esteem so fundamental to life-long success and well-being.
I’ve seen sailing, acting, sports and creative workshops over the time. This holiday I met a number of children on the programme when I joined in with the activities at Pizza Express in Cornfield Road. As you can imagine, the children got involved with gusto!
