Blair puts onus on councils

Local authorities will have a duty to ensure enough school-
based child care is available under government plans revealed last
week.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said the government would legislate
“at the first opportunity in a new parliament” to
ensure the care was available.

Speaking at the Daycare Trust annual conference he pledged that
a third of secondary schools would be extended schools open from
8am to 6pm by 2008. 

A “range of exciting activities” would be on offer
for children aged 11-14, and by the end of a Labour third term all
children aged 11-14 would be able to take part in these activities
after school and in the holidays, said Blair. He added that by the
end of a third term parents of children in primary schools would
also have “affordable school based child care” all year
round.