On Monday 3 December 2007 the first seminar was held in the ICMEC international seminar series. An invited audience of delegates from the private-for-profit and not-for-profit and from the public sector attended UEL's Docklands campus alongside policymakers, academics and journalists. Interested in the mixed economy of childcare, they came to hear and discuss presentations on the subject of 'Surplus or profit: the case of public funding for private childcare provision' and take part in a discussion. In her role as discussant, ICMEC co-director Helen Penn responded to the following presentations: the analysis of the impact of the London Development Agency's Childcare Affordability Programme by LDA Head of Childcare, Denise Burke, and William Laing's, CEO of social care research agency Laing & Buisson, discussion of the question 'Is childcare safe in private sector hands?'