UK Parliament / Open data

Childcare and Early Years

Proceeding contribution from Kit Malthouse (Conservative) in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 8 March 2023. It occurred during Estimates day on Childcare and Early Years.

My hon. Friend is quite right to use the word “investment” in this context. Has he ever come across the Tangelo Park project in the United States, which has fascinated

me for many years? A local philanthropist took over a neighbourhood in Florida that was plagued by crime and low achievement—what one would refer to as a rough neighbourhood. He made two offers to the population: he said that he would pay for universal, high-quality pre-school childcare and that anybody who got into college would get it free. Obviously people normally have to pay for college there, so that created an incentive. The project has been going for 20 years and has completely transformed the neighbourhood, which has become prosperous, crime-free and a lovely place to live. If we are interested in regeneration and levelling up across everything we do, investment is about not just the individual child and their family, but the area in which they live and their community’s sense of aspiration and purpose.

About this proceeding contribution

Reference

729 c340 

Session

2022-23

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber
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