Some state-run nurseries may be forced to close, meaning some parents lose free full-time hours, according to newspaper reports. Plus other news.
Some state-run nurseries may be forced to close, meaning some parents lose free full-time hours, reports The Guardian.
It says many parents will be forced to charge parents who have received free full-time provision from next September because of changes to Government rules designed to spread funding more fairly between state-run and private nurseries.
Dawn Primarolo, the children’s minister has reportedly written to local authorities asking them to protect nurseries and says the new single funding formula will be fairer and more transparent and will not be to the detriment of state-run nurseries.
The Government provides 12.5 hours a week of free childcare for all children aged three and four. From next September this will increase to 15 hours a week.
However, some children receive free full-time nursery places in the 430 state-run nurseries in England.
Career progression stalled by having children, say working mums
More than three quarters of working mums believe having a children has adversely affected their career progression, according to a poll by Talking Talent.
The poll of 174 women found more than half were worried they were seen negatively by colleagues on their return from maternity leave.
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Smoking in pregnancy can cause behavioural problems
Children whose mothers smoke in pregnancy are significantly more likely to develop behavioural problems, according to new research.
The research by Professor Kate Pickett at the University of York found boys whose mothers smoked when pregnant were significantly more likely to have behavioural problems, be hyperactive and have low attention spans than average. Girls whose mothers smoked were significantly more likely to show behavioural problems.
Child poverty gains could be wiped out due to recession
The number of children who live in jobless households has risen by 170,000 in the last year, wiping out some of the gains in child poverty made in the last decade, says a report.
More affluent areas have been hit hard in the latest recession, says the report, with seven out of the 10 areas with the highest rises in unemployment being in Berkshire and Surrey.
Labour has pledged to halve child poverty by 2010. The report, written by Donald Hirsch for the Campaign to End Child Poverty, says the Government will need to find £4bn to honour this pledge, but that this would save £25bn a year in the long term.