Like the British weather, the forecast for childcare businesses is not clear-cut. The Government's inter-departmental review says, 'there are shortages in most childcare markets,' a view supported by economist Gillian Paul of the Institute of Fiscal Studies. In Using the Family Resources Survey 2002, which asked mothers if they wanted to work and whether they would work longer hours if there was suitable childcare, she concluded that there was 'not enough childcare to meet demand'.
It's a refrain that Rosemary Murphy, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), hears constantly from Government ministers.
She tells them that they have to use a wider angled lens to encompass more than the perspective from the Home Counties and London and realise that in other areas Government initiatives to expand childcare could actually pose a threat to existing provision.
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