Princess of Wales launches childhood campaign - but faces calls for investment not 'awareness'
The Princess of Wales has launched her new early childhood plan in Leeds, but a campaign group has said long-term investment is required instead of raising "awareness".
The group Practitioners of the Early Years Sector said: "We are well accustomed to MPs and royalty visiting early years settings, praising the invaluable work of practitioners from David Cameron to Gordon Brown and the Queen Consort.
"But nothing is done. The time has long passed for 'awareness'. We need action - long-term investment and funding in the early years."
The group said early years' centres are "having to close, with staff laid off due to being constantly underfunded and under-resourced".
"Childcare providers are having to turn to food charities to provide nutritious meals for children while stagnant government funding still is not being directed to the sector - the paltry government funding of early years that is provided does not cover the provision of any food."
The group also said that no early years experts were on the team that wrote a key report for the princesses' Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood.
Kate canvassed parents in Kirkgate Market in the city - famed for its Child Friendly Leeds initiative - to hear the public's views about her project.
In a video message to mark the launch of her Shaping Us campaign, Kate said: "Our early childhood, the time from pregnancy to the age of five, fundamentally shapes the rest of our lives.
"But as a society, we currently spend much more of our time and energy on later life.
"Today, the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood is launching a new campaign, Shaping Us, to raise awareness of the life-changing impact we can have when we build a supportive, nurturing world around children and those who care for them."
The project is said to be Kate's "life's work" which she hopes will influence attitudes toward children in the early years of their lives.
A 90-second clay animation will also be shown in cinemas on Friday which shows the development of a young girl from birth to five years old as part of the Shaping Up campaign.
The late Queen launched the Child Friendly Leeds initiative in 2012 which encourages residents, businesses, and institutions to make the city the best place for children to grow up.
