What does a nursery place cost and who should pay for it is a question in the same category as how long is a piece of string? It is less an economic question than a social and political one. Should all children be entitled to attend nurseries? If not, which children should be prioritized, and how? Should children of working parents have priority? Who pays for a child to attend a nursery? How should childcare fees be calculated and who by? What government budget does the money for childcare come from, how should it be paid out, who devises the relevant forms and who fills them in? Whose job is it to create or run nurseries, and what is their reward (or what profits can they reasonably extract) for doing so? What counts as household income and what contribution should parents make to the costs of a nursery place? Should mothers (or fathers) be paid for better maternal/paternal leave so that there is a reduction in the need for babycare, as babies are the most expensive age group to look after, and arguably benefit most from more one-to-one care at home? What is a fair wage for those who work in the sector, and who should pay them? What should staff be expected to do to earn their wage? How should nurseries be coordinated so they can pool resources? What back-up services are needed to monitor whether policies are working, and how will they be paid for?

The problem is that, in the UK, there are no coherent answers to any of these questions, or to closely related issues regarding in-home carers such as childminders and nannies Many of these crucial questions have not even been asked, because we have such a fragmented system in the UK! But until at least some of these questions are resolved, it is a mistake to throw more money at the childcare sector. Someone must have a plan first. Otherwise, as at present, funding childcare does not enable parental choice in a free market, as the government claims. Instead, it is a wasteful process, enriching a few at the expense of many, crippling family budgets, and failing to give value for money to the taxpayer. It is an unedifying and an unequal free-for-all, in which the poorest children and families lose out.