The coalition government had announced one-off capital funding to ensure extra capacity for the free nursery education scheme for 2-year olds. It has now come to light that this funding for free nursery education will be sliced from the early intervention grant that goes to fund Sure Start Centres, parenting projects, parent-toddler schemes, short breaks for disabled children and the troubled families support initiatives of the government. So next year there can be a shortfall of hundreds of millions of pounds in the early intervention scheme funding.
The leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg, announced on Tuesday, the 25th September, the one-off capital to fund the free nursery schemes as there were fears that there would not be enough places in the nursery to meet the demand and funds to create the extra places. A 20% shortfall in the early intervention funding is being feared by local authorities. The Labour MP Graham Allen opined that the free nursery scheme was a good idea but it could lead to unprecedented cuts to funding of vital services.
