The government is publishing proposals for a national childcare strategy, in a Green Paper that considers both the educational needs of pre-school children and the importance of affordable childcare in allowing parents to return to work.

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At present, the United Kingdom has the lowest level of public-sector childcare for the under-fours in the European Union, a position that the government plans to change with a co-ordinated education and benefits policy.

It will seek to create an overall vision for taking care of young children, in place of the patchwork quilt of private nurseries, childminders, nannies, playgroups, friends and relatives that currently cater for the majority of pre-school children of working parents.

Colette Kelleher: "At present there are huge waiting lists for childminders and day nurseries."

"Families desperately need childcare so that they can make that transition from being at home to going back to work - the parents need it, the children need it, the employers need it as well," says Colette Kelleher of the Daycare Trust, an organisation that has campaigned for a co-ordinated childcare strategy.

The Green Paper is set to develop measures already announced by the government to expand childcare provision. Earlier this year, �300m of lottery funds were allocated to support an extra 40,000 places for children, in both the voluntary and public sectors.

And in partnership with local authorities, the government has promised nursery places for all four-year olds from September. The Budget also included provisions to make childcare more affordable for low-income families.

Leading by example and providing a model for other employers, the Social Security Secretary, Harriet Harman, last week announced a childcare plan for staff at the Benefits Agency, in a �1.2m project that will provide holiday play schemes and after-school care for the young children of the agency's employees.

As an example of pre-school education, the government is creating "early excellence centres", which will bring together learning, childcare and social services. There will also be advice available for parents on childminding from a national phoneline.

In Scotland, childcare facilities are to be boosted by an extra �3.8m, which local authorities will spend on creating extra places and providing improved information services for parents.

There will also be funds targeted at schemes that encourage employers to recognise the importance of childcare.

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