Capacity - whose board of directors is chaired by Professor Norman Glass, a key instigator of Sure Start - is calling for 'a more substantial and universal offer to all parents, reflecting the importance of the early years and the significance of the family as a context for learning'.
Professor Glass said, 'Sure Start was designed with the view of enabling parents to cope better with their essential role of raising children. All parents need help with this from time to time and we believe that in this respect schools, pre-schools and nurseries have a role to play in developing Sure Start-type activities more universally.'
Capacity will provide support to statutory bodies and other agencies involved in children's services up to the age of 14.
In a paper setting out its aims, Capacity states that it wants an increase in the number of hours of publicly-funded childcare for three-to five-year-olds from 12.5 hours currently under the nursery education grant to 20 hours a week. It also wants the Government to introduce free childcare of up to 12.5 hours a week for all children under three for parents to use for respite, educational or work reasons at times convenient for them. Parents would pay for any additional childcare, supported by tax credits.
The organisation says that children's centres should also be doubled to the 40 per cent most deprived wards. Parents should also have more of a say in the way services are developed through governing bodies and drop-in facilities in children's centres, nurseries and schools and by being involved in the management and operation of settings.
The paper states, 'The impact of these measures would be considerable. By altering the balance between universal and targeted measures, a much stronger childcare infrastructure would be better placed to serve the range of needs which exist in all communities.'
The launch of Capacity was chosen to coincide with the move into new purpose-built premises of First Steps Centre for Children and Families in Twerton, a deprived ward near Bath. Originally set up by a group of local people in the early 1990s, it is now a combined children's centre, early excellence centre and neighbourhood nursery.
Margaret Lochrie, who until last year was chief executive of the Pre-School Learning Alliance and is now one of Capacity's directors, described First Steps as 'a beacon of excellence' representing 'a very tangible and concrete way of providing childcare'.
Ms Lochrie said, 'First Steps provides a model for what parents universally want and need during the early years of their children's lives - childcare when it is needed, a community of interest where parents can drop in for advice, tackle new learning opportunities or get help with finding jobs.'