One reason for the dip in optimism is the falling birth rate, something that childcare providers are going to hear a lot more about in coming years. The UK has seen a minor baby boom in the past couple of years but there is every indication that it is going to be a blip rather than a reversal of this downward trend.
It seems that the national 'map' of childcare may become even messier, with overprovision, underprovision and falling birth rates affecting different areas to ever varying degrees, which raises the whole question of strategic planning. Stories of overprovision multiply, yet strategic planning was conveniently skimmed over in the Government's five-year plan (see 'In my view', page 34).
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