Letter: Care after school

Sir: Everyone involved in lobbying for better child care will welcome the Government's pounds 300m investment in a national childcare programme (report, 26 November). But if the plans are to work, they must be built on the foundations that are already in place.

In the UK, the majority of child care for the under-eights - including before- and after-school care - is provided by registered childminders working in their own homes. These carers are the backbone of Britain's childcare economy. They are particularly important for lone parents, who value the individual attention and continuity of care childminders can offer.

While an expansion of after-school clubs is to be welcomed, all parents have the right to choose the best type of care for their children, and my association will be lobbying hard for a part of the new investment to be targeted at the expansion, training and support of registered childminders so that parental choice and children's welfare stay at the top of the political agenda.

GILL HAYNES

National Childminding Association

Bromley, Kent