Senior Tories urge Rishi Sunak to prioritise childcare reform

Senior Conservative MPs are urging Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to prioritise childcare reforms, arguing it is too expensive for parents.

Robin Walker, chairman of the Commons education committee, said his party needed "a serious set of policies" on the issue.

A source close to former PM Liz Truss has urged her successor not to scrap her plans to overhaul the system.

No 10 sources have denied Mr Sunak has shelved plans for reform.

The UK is among the most expensive countries for childcare in the world, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Ms Truss, a former childcare minister, had made the issue a focus of her short premiership.

She had reportedly been looking at options to overhaul the system in England, including increasing free childcare support and scrapping mandatory staff-child ratios, which limit the number of children one adult can look after.

However, since Ms Truss was only in office for a few weeks, no new childcare policies were formally announced.

A source close to Ms Truss told The Times: "Excessive bureaucracy is making childcare in England increasingly unaffordable for many parents. The system needs to be reformed in order to boost growth and opportunity.

"Junking Liz's plans for this critical policy area seems economically and politically counterproductive."

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BBC political editor Chris Mason said there was irritation in Downing Street at the intervention by Ms Truss.

Downing Street sources point out Ms Truss's plans were not fully developed and would be very expensive - particularly the expansion of free childcare.

Sources have said Mr Sunak is working on a series of options with the education secretary to improve the system.

The prime minister will set out the priorities for his premiership in a speech later but no policy announcements on childcare are expected imminently.

Surveys suggest the idea of scrapping ratios is unpopular with parents and nurseries, with many concerned about the impact on safety and the quality of childcare.

But reports in the Telegraph that Mr Sunak has shelved plans for a major overhaul of childcare have prompted concern from some Conservative MPs.

Mr Walker, a former education minister, said there was a strong economic argument for making childcare reform a priority, as it allowed parents to return to work more easily.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that if children were better prepared for school, this could also address any issues with speech and language development early on.

"I think any party which is aspiring to run the country now needs to set out a serious set of policies as to how we better support parents, particularly in the early years," he said.

He added that he believed the prime minister was "genuinely interested in this area" but there needed to be "policy detail".

Mr Walker said he did not believe scrapping staff-child ratios was "the right way of pursuing this" but "we have to look at other mechanisms to better support the sector, better support parents with the cost of childcare".

Other Tory MPs have also expressed concerns about reports childcare reforms could be shelved.

Simon Clarke, a former minister and ally of Ms Truss, said in a tweet earlier this week: "Childcare is hugely and unnecessarily expensive in England and we should do all we can to support working mums."

Siobhan Baillie, Conservative MP for Stroud, also said the "complex and expensive childcare system" needed reform.

She said Ms Truss was right to be "bold" on childcare, although she was not convinced changing ratios and expanding existing schemes was the right approach.

The prime minister's spokesperson said: "We continue to review all options to improve the cost, choice and availability of high-quality childcare for working parents. It's very important for this prime minister, as is education.

"We have spent £20bn over the past five years to support families with the cost of childcare."