Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of increasing free childcare provision to 30 hours per week on (a) the number of childcare places, (b) child to adult ratios in nursery settings and (c) the number of nurseries which offer free childcare provision.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Introducing the new entitlement to 30 hours of free childcare for working parents will require growth in the childcare market which the Government is confident can be achieved. We know that many working families with three- and four-year-olds already use more than 15 hours of childcare so many of the required childcare places already exist. We also believe that there is some existing spare capacity in the system to help deliver the new entitlement. The Government is committed to keeping the existing child to adult ratios and has no plans to change them to deliver the extended entitlement.
We have already made significant progress in ensuring that there are more childcare places available with an increase of 230,000 places since 2009. Furthermore, data from the Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey (2013) showed that 97% of full day care settings that took three and four-year-olds offered funded places. The childcare sector is healthy, vibrant and growing. During the last Parliament, it demonstrated its ability to respond to the extension of the free entitlement to disadvantaged two-year-olds.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of increasing free childcare provision to 30 hours per week on the number of nurseries which offer free childcare.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Introducing the new entitlement to 30 hours of free childcare for working parents will require growth in the childcare market and the government is confident this will be achieved. Since 2009, 230, 000 places have been created.
It is of course essential that the funding for the entitlement is right to ensure that a sufficient number of nurseries are able to deliver it. The government has already committed to an increase to the average funding rate paid to providers.
The government’s review on the cost of providing childcare will inform decisions on a rate that is fair and sustainable for providers. Findings from the review will feed directly into the Spending Review which will be published on 25 November.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to clause 1 of the Childcare Bill, what categories of childcare provider she plans to include in an independent review of the free childcare entitlement funding system.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
I announced in the summer that a government review of the cost of providing childcare was underway. The review which began well before clause 1 was inserted into the Bill, is being led by the Department with external support from Deloitte. Findings from the review will inform decisions made as part of the Spending Review.
The government review is considering a significant body of evidence on the provision of childcare across a range of provider types, including private, voluntary and independent providers, childminders and schools. As part of the review, we have engaged extensively with providers from across the sector. Our call for evidence received over 2000 responses, the majority of which were from providers and our online questionnaire had over 19,300 responses. We held a series of roundtables over the summer across the country and have also worked with 10 large employers (including Carillion, John Lewis Partnership, Rolls Royce and BT), and through them have engaged over 180 parents in a series of events. These have provided a valuable opportunity to engage with providers face to face.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of not returning VAT costs of sixth form colleges on competition in the market for education provision for 16 to 19 year olds.
Answered by Nick Boles
All 16-19 providers are funded on an equal basis in relation to the students that they recruit but the Department for Education does not factor into funding the costs of the different legal and corporate status of 16-19 providers. The Department has not looked specifically at the impact of not paying VAT on competition in the market.