LAST week, I attended a Parliamentary roundtable with like-minded colleagues and researchers, including from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and Women's Budget Group – organisations working to prove and get us to recognise the positive economic impact of proper childcare provision.

While most would agree that better childcare is a ‘no brainer’ for families, for too long, childcare has been viewed only as a cost – a total disservice. Delivering great childcare – besides being crucial support to ensure children get the best start in life – is a way of re-engineering the balance between work and home life; provide flexibility and, in turn, support productivity and growth.

This is about making sure the right people can go into the right jobs, with the right hours – as well as the right to choose to look after their children, if they so wish.

But, as it stands, we’re dealing with a legacy of a lack of strategic thinking, and, according to WBG, a “complex web of formal and informal support stitched together daily.” Both JRF and WBG agree that this brings systemic issues including under-funding, poor oversight, market-driven fragmentation and profit-driven ownership.

The government’s unit cost still doesn’t cover what it costs providers to deliver their services. And yet, remuneration is still too poor to draw the necessary staff into the industry, with worker pay being paid an average of £1,000 less at many of the private equity-owned firms working to squeeze a profit out of the ailing sector. When recess comes in two weeks, I look forward to sitting down to do my own modelling on economic impact of this ‘perfect storm’.

These issues have compounded to limit affordability, stability, quality, and equity – even when research from the New Economics Foundation shows that investing in early years education can delivers higher returns than infrastructure projects in terms of the fiscal payback, higher job creation and social benefits including reduced inequalities.

What’s more, experts agree that transforming the system would have a better impact on lower income families, so we should be grabbing with both hands. We’re delivering the Best Start programme –dubbed a ‘Sure Start for the 2020s’, where for every £1 invested an estimated £2.05 benefits came out of the scheme. A network of 1,000 Family Support Hubs, rooted in deprived areas – including several in my constituency – will serve as ‘one stop shops’ offering support for parents – even from before their children are born.

Then on Monday, our Parental Leave and Pay Review is a much-needed opportunity to explore and consider how the parental leave and pay system could better support working families, reflect the modern economy, and deliver on the government’s missions.  That means reviewing all types of leave and includes provision for unsocial hours, for example in the hospitality sector – of vital importance to us in Cornwall. In parallel, I’m a supporter of Dadshift - a group of men, dads and other parents campaigning for better paternity leave in the UK – and for a better deal for working mothers too.