If poverty is the underlying cause of social exclusion the news for the poor is not good as anti-poverty measures are held to be failing

As this research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows, the growth of 24hour working impacts negatively on childcare

A powerful critique of the Social Inclusion policies that provide the background to much of the current debate over childcare has been provided by Ruth Levitas. Some of her objections are outlined in this interview

The Parliamentary Select Committee on Work and Pensions has just published a report on affordable childcare. A summary of the report may has been published by the BBC

Here is the Select Committee's Fifth Report

Polly Toynbee asks in the Guardian today whether Labour can deliver Margaret Hodge's 'long term vision . . . for a children's centre in every community." Childcare for all - now (Guardian 27 June 2003)