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The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, today warned that the lack of high-quality, affordable childcare is seriously holding back London's economy.
Launching the Economic Development Strategy, the mayor said: "One in four children in London live in a workless household.
"One of the main reasons for this is the lack of good-quality, affordable childcare.
Partly as a result of the higher costs of childcare in the capital, a lower proportion of women with dependant children go to work than in the rest of the country, said Livingstone. To tackle this, the London Development Agency is committed to working with the Government to provide up to 10,000 more affordable childcare places in London."
Over the next year the London Development Agency will be working with other partners on a wide range of initiatives to implement the mayor's childcare strategy.
The average cost of childcare in London is £168 per week, more than 30 per cent higher than the average for England as a whole. In outer London, costs are 20 per cent higher than the national average.
