England is lagging behind other developed countries in making progress in early years education and childcare, according to a new report.
An international study by Unicef examines the changes in childcare in the world's richest countries and the increasing numbers of young children that are now spending a large part of their early childhood in childcare.
The study discusses the opportunities and risks involved in these changes and proposes a set of minimum standards, or benchmarks, for early childcare and education. England meets just five of the 10 benchmarks, it says.
These are - creating a national plan with priority for the disadvantaged; subsidised and regulated childcare services for 25% of children under three; subsidised and accredited early education services for 80% of four-year-olds; ensuring 80% of all childcare staff are trained; and that 50% of staff in accredited early education services have a higher education qualification.
But England is failing to meet the study's other minimum requirements - parental leave of one year at 50% of their salary; minimum staff-to-children ratio for four and five year-olds; 1% of GDP spent on early childhood services (this refers to the UK as a whole); a child poverty rate of less than 10%; and near-universal outreach of essential child health services.
Six other European nations are performing better than England in meeting these minimum standards, the study concluded.
Sweden is meeting all 10, followed by Iceland, which meets nine, and Denmark, Finland, France and Norway, which all meet eight.
David Bull, executive director of Unicef praised the Government's commitment, and said the report had noted that expenditure in England on pre-school education has quadrupled in the last decade. But he said the UK as a whole still has three million children living in poverty and higher rates of infant death and low birth weight than many comparable countries.
He said: "This Government has taken great strides in advancing child well-being since our 2007 report, but much more still needs to be done. For example, in the recent Pre-Budget Report the Government did not commit to investing £3 billion to keep it on course to half child poverty by 2010 and end it by 2020. The UK should spend what is needed both to eliminate child poverty and meet the benchmarks in full. These changes will require investment, but there is none better than investing in the prospects of our youngest children."
Children's Minister Beverley Hughes said in a letter to Unicef, complaining about the perceived inaccuracies in the report: "Overall, we have to conclude that the report is poor, with factual inaccuracies which misrepresent the UK position on childcare and early learning in a number of ways."
