How would families living in rural areas with no local provision be catered for?
These would be catered for through the Children’s Centres programme which would involve developing services to fit local need. The Authority also had to ensure that there was sufficiency of childcare places. This was currently being assessed and the results would be published so that parents and others could comment and make their views known. Were the first Children’s Centres situated in areas of deprivation? Yes, that was how they first started but they were now being rolled out cross the County. You referred to the fact that you might need to intervene in the childcare market – could you explain this please? The Authority needed to map supply and demand to ensure sufficiency, particularly for early education provision and overall in the County. This totalled approximately 464 settings. If a provider was finding it difficult to be sustainable, the Authority was allowed to consider supporting them financially in order to ensure places were available. How would you engage with ‘seldom
