Integrate the care and education of children under five in a White Paper on a new education framework

Set up 25 Early Excellence centres which will combine high quality nursery education and child care on one site

Scrap the nursery voucher scheme and create a partnership between education authorities, and voluntary and private providers to plan the expansion of early years services

Develop the role of health visitors to support babies and parents from day one

Make parenting skills part of a revised national curriculum in schools

Encourage senior citizens to become “foster grandparents” to help inexperienced new families

Expand the number of after-school clubs to help lone mothers get back to work

Strengthen links between parents and early years workers by extending “home-school contracts” to the under-fives

Introduce uniform standards for registration and inspection, minimum space requirements in all nurseries and playgroups

Improve the training of early years workers.

Review, and possibly strengthen, the targets for five-year-olds under the Government’s desirable outcomes for children’s learning.