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43
The Ministers concerned accept the view of medical and
other authority that, in the interests of the health and development
of the child no less than for the benefit of the mother,
the proper place for a child under two is at home with his
mother. They are also of the opinion that, under normal
peace-time conditions, the right policy to pursue would be
positively to discourage mothers of children under two from
going out to work ; to make provision for children between
two and five by way of nursery schools and nursery classes ;
and to regard day nurseries and daily guardians as supplements
to meet the special needs (where these exist and cannot be met
within the hours, age, range and organisation of nursery
schools and nursery classes) of children whose mothers are
constrained by individual circumstances to go out to work,
or whose home conditions are in themselves unsatisfactory
from the health point of view, or whose mothers are incapable
for some good reason of undertaking the full care of their
children.
The Ministers recognise, however, that this policy represents
an ideal which cannot be immediately attained. The
period of transition from war to normal peace-time conditions
is likely to be substantial; during that period, in some areas,
the need for women workers in industries vital to production
for essential home requirements or for export may well be as
urgent and important to the national interest as it was for
war production; and housing and shopping difficulties will
continue, though they will progressively diminish. Moreover,
it has been represented that nursery schools and nursery classes
will never wholly meet the need because they do not admit
children under two (or three) years of age, and are open only
during school time ; and that some permanent provision may
need to be made for the occasional care of children of all ages
up to five in order that all mothers, whether or not they go
out to work, may have reasonable opportunity of rest and
relaxation apart from their homes and children.
Measurement of Local Need and Provision for meeting it.
The measurement of local need, and the selection and
operation of the best methods of meeting it, both immediately
and in the more distant future, must, therefore, rest primarily
on the local authority or authorities concerned. As regards
methods, what is required, for the time being at all events,