PAS partners 1 (a) Does the Guidance help your understanding of the legislation relating to education authorities’ functions in the delivery of early

Para 61 While this guidance is clear and helpful in relation to what can be charged for in relation to optional extras, we would appreciate inclusion of some reference to the fact that for parents and carers on a low income additional costs may be a barrier to inclusion and that this runs counter to legislative and policy initiatives on child poverty, inclusion and on narrowing the attainment gap. [...] Section 50 We welcome this section of the guidance and are pleased to note that some of our suggestions for improving practice in consultations with parents and carers have been taken up; in particular, the extension of the categories of parents who should be included in consultation and the value of consulting parents and carers of primary school children who may have already experienced the ELC. [...] Para 90 Good quality communication is vital to meaningful engagement with parents and carers and we welcome the commitment to ‘ensuring parents and carers get the support and information they need in appropriate formats and at the right times’. [...] We would reiterate that there needs to be a clear offer to parents and carers that enables them to use the funded hours but does not pressurise them to use their full entitlement where they do not wish to, and recognises that the wish that many parents and carers have to stay at home with their children in their earliest years is an equally valid choice and should be supported by Government. [...] Focussing on developing supportive and caring relationships between the child and their care givers is important; it is also important that parents and carers are part of this dynamic, that caregivers provide supportive and caring relationships to families enabling them in turn to provide supportive and caring relationships to their children.