The equal opportunities child care programme was among the issues addressed by the Expert Working Group on Child Care which was chaired by my Department and which launched a report on 3 February 1999. The expert working group recommended that "the Programme should be expanded so that the supply of quality child care in disadvantaged areas can continue to be physically upgraded and have enhanced staffing support and that an additional £3.5 million budget should be allocated to the Programme for each of the first three years of the (recommended) National Child Care Strategy".
Two other reports were published recently which also contain proposals to address the child care situation – the report of the Commission on the Family and the report of the Forum for Early Childhood Education. Child care is a complex issue and the three reports differ in relation to the solutions proposed and the issues addressed. The Government, therefore, has established an interdepartmental committee to evaluate, cost and prioritise the child care proposals in all three reports together with the relevant proposals in An Action Programme for the Millennium and to make recommendations to the Government within six months.