Rosemary Murphy, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, welcomed the increases in childcare tax credits but said parents would 'still be left paying the lion's share of childcare costs'.
The charity 4Children called the strategy 'a major watershed'. However, chief executive Anne Longfield said the Chancellor's pledges amounted to 'a substantial downpayment, which will need to be built on year on year'.
4Children estimates that around 1.4 billion of investment is needed per year over the next six years simply to deliver the extended schools element of the strategy.
'If the Government achieves its target of 50 per cent of schools to offer this service by 2008, through existing investment, then an extra 1.7 billion will be needed in each of the three years up to 2010 to achieve services within every community,' said Ms Longfield.
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