Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the capacity of the childcare sector to deliver Government-funded childcare places; and what their current estimate is of any shortfall or surplus of places.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Through the Best Start in Life strategy, the department is focused on reforming the childcare system and delivering on our Plan for Change. This government continues to prioritise and protect investment in the early years, which is why we are investing over £1 billion more in early years entitlements next year compared to 2025/26. The school-based nursery programme is a £400 million capital investment to deliver the government’s manifesto commitment to create or expand thousands of additional school-based nurseries across England, increasing access to childcare for families.
The department is providing £82 million of capital funding to over 600 primary and maintained nursery schools across phases 1 and 2 which will create over 11,000 new nursery places by September 2027, of which over 5,000 places were available from September 2025.
The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action they are taking to address those issues and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract. There are currently no sufficiency challenges reported.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 25 July (HL351), which organisations (rather than individuals) responded to the consultation.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education consultation received over 143,000 responses. These are currently being analysed and the findings, including analytics about the respondents, will be published once my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has had an opportunity to look at them carefully, alongside discussing with stakeholders and considering the relevant evidence, including the Cass Review which has since been published, before setting out next steps.
The consultation did not ask respondents to disclose the organisation they represent, and responses from organisations were only categorised by type, such as school, local authority, union or charity so we are unable to provide a comprehensive list.