Free pre-school for all 'not best use of money'
UNIVERSAL pre-school education is not the way forward, the Treasury minister has said, as he explained why the department has refused to fund the scheme.
Treasury has unanimously opposed spending £2.2m. on the move – even though Education felt it had found a way that did not require extra States spending – as minister Gavin St Pier said providing blanket assistance was not something he was comfortable with.
And he was confident that children in Guernsey had enough access to pre-schooling to make this much less of an issue than it seemed.
'We do not believe universal pre-school is the best use of the funds available. We recognise that 94% of children are in pre-school education, and all we would be doing is substituting private money with public money,' he said.
'If the States decide that is what they want to do, we think the best way is to cut the budget of every other States department for that to happen. Already we have seen costs go up, last year it was £1.9m. and now it is £2.2m.
'Yes, there are clear benefits to pre-school education, but we already have a great take-up of it.'
