Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the likely proportionate change in childcare providers that are (a) private, (b) voluntary and (c) independent providers by September (i) 2024 and (ii) 2025.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The number of private, voluntary and independent providers that are registered on the Early Years Register as of 31 March 2023 was 22,691.
The latest available data for December 2023 shows that the number of private, voluntary and independent providers that are registered on the Early Years Register was 22,490, which is 201 less than in March 2023, and a percentage change of 0.9%.
The department has not made a forecast estimation of the likely proportionate change in providers by September 2024 or September 2025.
It is important to note however that this is not an accurate measure of capacity in the sector. The latest Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey (2023) shows that the number of Early Years places has increased by 40,000 in 2023 compared with 2018. At the same time, the total population of 0 to 5 year olds has declined by 1% per year every year from 2018 to 2022, according to the latest available Office for National Statistics data.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the (a) number and (b) percentage of (i) private, (ii) voluntary and (iii) independent childcare providers has changed since March 2023.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The number of private, voluntary and independent providers that are registered on the Early Years Register as of 31 March 2023 was 22,691.
The latest available data for December 2023 shows that the number of private, voluntary and independent providers that are registered on the Early Years Register was 22,490, which is 201 less than in March 2023, and a percentage change of 0.9%.
The department has not made a forecast estimation of the likely proportionate change in providers by September 2024 or September 2025.
It is important to note however that this is not an accurate measure of capacity in the sector. The latest Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey (2023) shows that the number of Early Years places has increased by 40,000 in 2023 compared with 2018. At the same time, the total population of 0 to 5 year olds has declined by 1% per year every year from 2018 to 2022, according to the latest available Office for National Statistics data.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to count the number of staff working in the early years and childcare sector.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department collects information on the overall size of the workforce through its regular Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2023.
The latest data from this survey was published in December 2023 and showed the number of paid staff working in the early years sector had increased by 13,000 in 2023 alone.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of her policies on the childcare workforce.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In accordance with standard practice, new policies which have been introduced to support the early years workforce will be evaluated to understand their impact and effectiveness. This includes the recently announced national recruitment campaign and early years financial incentives pilot, details of which can be found at: https://earlyyearscareers.campaign.gov.uk/.
The department is also regularly engaging with both local authorities and early years providers from across the country to better understand the impact of workforce policies on the early years workforce in their local areas.
Additionally, the department collects information on the childcare workforce through the Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers which showed 13,000 more people working in the sector in 2023 alone. The survey can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2023.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 2.8 of the Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, whether trends in the level of (a) wage growth, (b) inflation and (c) National Living Wage rises were used to calculate the hourly rate paid to childcare providers to deliver free hours childcare for children aged nine months to four years.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Spring Budget 2024 announcement confirms how the department will uplift costs in the 2025/26 and 2026/27 financial years. The department will use average earnings growth and National Living Wage (NLW) to forecast how staff costs are changing for providers and Consumer Price Index (a general measure of inflation) to forecast how non-staff costs will change. This is the same metric that was used at Spring Budget 2023 and as such, levels of inflation and the NLW were taken into account when calculating the funding rates paid by the department to local authorities for all of the entitlements in the financial year 2024/25.
The department’s methodology and the uplift to the rates are informed by data it receives from providers and parents to ensure it meets the pressures faced by the sector. The department regularly surveys a nationally representative sample of over 9,000 providers to gain insights into how they run their provision and the challenges they face. The department also regularly surveys over 6,000 parents to understand their usage of childcare.