Clegg denies nursery change claim

The Deputy Prime Minister said the proposals were widely opposed by parents and experts, and could have pushed costs up.

The intervention effectively ended a coalition stand-off over the key plank of flagship childcare reforms.

Proposals announced by Conservative Education Minister Liz Truss were due to see rules on nurseries and childminders eased from September.

Each member of staff would have been able to look after four children aged under one rather than three. The ratio for two-year-olds would have risen from four to six per adult.

However, childcare experts raised concerns about the move and last month Mr Clegg said he was not persuaded the changes were right.

The Liberal Democrat leader has now written to Ms Truss telling her the plans did not have his support, effectively blowing them out of the water.

Speaking on his regular radio phone-in, Mr Clegg said the proposals had only ever been cleared to go out for consultation.

“What I said, by the way, very, very clearly, was that we can only decide on this when we have heard the response of people who frankly know better than any politician what it is like to look after four, five, six two-year-old toddlers,” the Sheffield Hallam MP insisted.

Mr Clegg said replies to the consultation from nurseries, parents’ groups and other experts overwhelmingly suggested that the idea was bad .

“They thought it was a bad idea for a number of reasons, but the one that I focused on, having really looked at the responses to the consultation, was the claim initially made that it would somehow reduce the weekly childcare bill for families,” he said.

“What came back was really a very clear answer – there was no real evidence this would reduce childcare costs.

“In fact, one nursery after another that I visited said, ‘to be honest Mr Clegg ... this might well drive costs up because we are going to have to spend more money on more highly qualified (staff)’.”

He added: “I know everyone gets sort of hot under the collar in the Westminster village, but I have a very straightforward view – if you have an idea that is controversial, you ask people what they think. When you have asked them what they think, listen to what they say, listen to what parents say, look at the evidence and then make up your mind.”

Mr Clegg said it was “flatly wrong” to accuse him of breaking any agreement with other ministers, adding: “What we agreed at the time was that we would consult on this proposal and not make our minds up finally until we had heard from people.”

Aides stressed the move was “genuinely about the substance” of the proposals and insisted Mr Clegg had been “remorselessly led by the evidence”.

The Department for Education’s assessment that childcare bills could be cut by more than a quarter was flawed and based on an “unrealistic model”, one aide suggested.

Ms Truss had been asked early in the process to come up with amended proposals after concerns were raised by the DPM but chose to “write back with exactly the same policy”, they added.

The plans were part of a broader package of childcare reforms, which took months of coalition wrangling to assemble and included innovative tax breaks for working parents.

Earlier, Mr Clegg had said: “One of my absolute top priorities in Government is to deliver better quality, more affordable childcare for parents up and down the country.”

Bill Carmichael: Page 13.