'Don't rely on private sector alone to fund early years', chief executive tells Government

Speaking at the organisation'a national conference in Birmingham, Mr Leitch said it was ‘a worrying state of affairs when we have to rely on a business proposition to care for the needy’.

He told the 500 delegates at the Birmingham Hilton Metropole, ‘Year on year, we have heard successive Governments up the ante in terms of the early years agenda, and at the same time in reverse gear they have eroded support to the Alliance.’

Mr Leitch pointed to the Voluntary and Community Sector grant awarded in 2011, when the Pre-school Learning Alliance was told, along with other voluntary organisations for children and families, that after March 2013 it would be expected to move to self-sufficiency.

‘We were told that the funding would be replaced by private investment and a redirection of monies to local authorities who would replace our loss.’

The chief executive added, ‘I would like this question answered: If the money is not coming from the private sector and the money is not coming from the local authority, what would Government like us to tell the families that we will have to pass over because the programmes we deliver are no longer deemed worthy of support?’

Mr Leitch called on the Coalition Government to decide what its priorities are and also told the delegates that more needed to be done to help families than just early intervention. ‘Supporting a child in an early years setting for three hours a day is of limited value if we simply send them home to 21 hours of chaos,’ he said.

Volunteer Awards

The Pre-school Learning Alliance also honoured its four volunteer award winners at the conference. Felicia Samuel, below right, from the Lewisham Deaf Children's Society was named Outstanding Pre-school Committee Volunteer; Alison Franklin from Fulham Palace Family Centre, London, below left, Outstanding Volunteer at a Baby and Toddler Group; Clare Louise Syvertsen, Outstanding Volunteer at a Pre-School or Nursery, Rectory Park Community Centre, Northolt, main image: and Christine Clark from the Alliance's Norfolk sub-committee, the Lifetime Achievement Award. All were recognised for their work in early years groups and settings across England.