Councils could soon be asked to provide seamless childcare from birth to school as part of a new government policy to win parents' votes for Labour. Senior Labour MPs are reported to be looking ahead to the next election with ‘universal childcare' seen as a vote-winning formula. One option under consideration is the provision of free nursery places from birth to school age for poor families, with better-off parents paying for some services. Children's minister, Beverley Hughes, warned that she expected local authorities to be filling gaps in the current system within two to three years. She said: ‘Local authorities now have their first assessments of what's available and what parents want, and therefore, where the gap is. They are charged with working to meet that demand.' The Childcare Act 2006 placed responsibility with local authorities to secure, so far as reasonably practicable, sufficient childcare to meet the requirements of parents in their area to enable them to work or undertake training or education. Councils were obliged to start assessing provision from April 2007, and the process of securing more childcare was expected to begin from this April. Town hall leaders claim councils are on track to fulfil their 2010 obligations regarding three to four-year-olds.