London Mayor failing to deliver childcare places

5.1.05

New figures revealed today by the London Assembly Liberal Democrats shows that the Mayor is falling massively behind schedule in providing the childcare places that he pledged last year.

The figures, revealed in papers to be discussed by the Budget Committee, show that the Mayor’s London Development Agency pledged to deliver 800 childcare places between April 2004 and March 2005. The latest figures show that in the first six months of the programme just 95 (12%) were created.

The figures also revealed that by the end of the financial year, the London Development Agency is set to miss 15 out of 22 targets.

Edward Davey is Liberal Democrat MP for Kingston and Surbiton, an area that falls in the South West constituency of the London Assembly. He commented,

“Yet again the man who calls himself ‘the people’s mayor’ is letting the people down. This is simply not good enough.

“The provision of childcare is a basic necessity for people with busy lives trying to juggle jobs and families. Extra places were promised to people in Kingston and across London. These have not materialised.”

London Assembly Liberal Democrat, Dee Doocey, said

“It is deeply worrying that so far the Mayor has failed to deliver childcare places in London. Mr Livingstone has staked a lot of effort on the commitment to provide 10,000 new places, yet the record so far is pretty dire.

“With the unemployment rate in London already the highest in the country, it is vital that the Mayor does not continue to let Londoners down and raises his game to provide affordable and attainable childcare places for parents.”