Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of nursery availability on parents' ability to return to work when claiming Universal Credit in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
It is the department’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change. In 2025/26 alone, we plan to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements, which is an additional £2 billion, as we roll out the expansion of the entitlements. We will also work with the Department for Work and Pensions to make it easier for parents to use Universal Credit Childcare and the funded hours together.
The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about its sufficiency of childcare and any issues it faces. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action can be taken to address those issues and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the proportion of parents eligible for funded childcare who are unable to access childcare places due to (a) nursery waiting lists and (b) restrictions on available days in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
It is the department’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change. In 2025/26 alone, we plan to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements as we roll out the expansion of the entitlements, a 30% increase compared to 2024/25. We have made available £500 million in capital investment to expand early years provision for existing settings and to support the creation of new ones. The department is working closely with local authorities which are being supported to map provision gaps and work with new and existing providers to fill them. The government is also simplifying the registration and regulatory process to make it easier for new providers to enter the market. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department works closely to address issues including through out childcare sufficiency support contract.
These actions are showing an impact with an increase of almost 6,000 providers and over 18,000 staff in the last year.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the proportion of parents eligible for funded childcare who are unable to access places due to (a) nursery waiting lists and (b) restrictions on available days.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
It is the department’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change. In 2025/26 alone, we plan to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements as we roll out the expansion of the entitlements, a 30% increase compared to 2024/25. We have made available £500 million in capital investment to expand early years provision for existing settings and to support the creation of new ones. The department is working closely with local authorities which are being supported to map provision gaps and work with new and existing providers to fill them. The government is also simplifying the registration and regulatory process to make it easier for new providers to enter the market. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department works closely to address issues including through out childcare sufficiency support contract.
These actions are showing an impact with an increase of almost 6,000 providers and over 18,000 staff in the last year.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that childcare places are available to parents eligible for the extended funded hours under the new childcare scheme in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
It is the department’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change. In 2025/26 alone, we plan to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements as we roll out the expansion of the entitlements, a 30% increase compared to 2024/25. We have made available £500 million in capital investment to expand early years provision for existing settings and to support the creation of new ones. The department is working closely with local authorities which are being supported to map provision gaps and work with new and existing providers to fill them. The government is also simplifying the registration and regulatory process to make it easier for new providers to enter the market. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department works closely to address issues including through out childcare sufficiency support contract.
These actions are showing an impact with an increase of almost 6,000 providers and over 18,000 staff in the last year.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with Ofsted on allowing greater flexibility in recognising alternative qualifications for after-school childcare roles.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The department has made no specific assessment of the impact of Ofsted qualification requirements on the sustainability of rural after school childcare providers. Before and after-school clubs can register with Ofsted on either or both the Early Years Register and the General Childcare Register, depending on the type of provision and age of the children they intend to care for. Some providers are exempt from registration if they meet the exemptions set out in legislation. Depending on their registration, they must either meet the statutory requirements of the early years foundation stage, or the general childcare register requirements. The requirements for both registers are set by the department and include qualification requirements for after-school childcare providers. Officials meet regularly with their Ofsted counterparts to ensure that the regulations that apply to Ofsted registered providers of after-school childcare, including the qualifications requirements for staff, remain fit for purpose.
Providers are responsible for considering the staff qualification and training requirements for the running of their after-school provision in line with Ofsted requirements. This means providers have the flexibility to design their own approach to staffing their provision and ensuring it remains sustainable.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Ofsted qualification requirements on the sustainability of rural after-school childcare providers.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The department has made no specific assessment of the impact of Ofsted qualification requirements on the sustainability of rural after school childcare providers. Before and after-school clubs can register with Ofsted on either or both the Early Years Register and the General Childcare Register, depending on the type of provision and age of the children they intend to care for. Some providers are exempt from registration if they meet the exemptions set out in legislation. Depending on their registration, they must either meet the statutory requirements of the early years foundation stage, or the general childcare register requirements. The requirements for both registers are set by the department and include qualification requirements for after-school childcare providers. Officials meet regularly with their Ofsted counterparts to ensure that the regulations that apply to Ofsted registered providers of after-school childcare, including the qualifications requirements for staff, remain fit for purpose.
Providers are responsible for considering the staff qualification and training requirements for the running of their after-school provision in line with Ofsted requirements. This means providers have the flexibility to design their own approach to staffing their provision and ensuring it remains sustainable.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to review Ofsted's qualification requirements for after-school club leaders.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The department has made no specific assessment of the impact of Ofsted qualification requirements on the sustainability of rural after school childcare providers. Before and after-school clubs can register with Ofsted on either or both the Early Years Register and the General Childcare Register, depending on the type of provision and age of the children they intend to care for. Some providers are exempt from registration if they meet the exemptions set out in legislation. Depending on their registration, they must either meet the statutory requirements of the early years foundation stage, or the general childcare register requirements. The requirements for both registers are set by the department and include qualification requirements for after-school childcare providers. Officials meet regularly with their Ofsted counterparts to ensure that the regulations that apply to Ofsted registered providers of after-school childcare, including the qualifications requirements for staff, remain fit for purpose.
Providers are responsible for considering the staff qualification and training requirements for the running of their after-school provision in line with Ofsted requirements. This means providers have the flexibility to design their own approach to staffing their provision and ensuring it remains sustainable.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to increase the flexibility of funded childcare arrangements to help increase support for parents (a) who are unable to take up work due to a lack of available nursery places and (b) with restrictive nursery session times.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
On 7 July, the department published its Best Start in Life Strategy, which sets out how we will make real change happen for families across the country.
We are delivering more support to working families than ever before with the rollout of 30 hours government-funded childcare from September 2025. This is expected to save eligible families using their full entitlement an average of £7,500 a year.
Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area.
There is no requirement that childcare providers must deliver funded hours at particular times of the day or on particular days of the week. Providers are free to choose when to deliver funded hours, as long as they comply with the terms of their arrangements with the local authority.
Local authorities should actively support partnership working between providers to ensure that funded places are high-quality, flexible and accessible to give parents choice about how and where they take-up their child’s free hours. Local authorities should also support providers to establish parental declarations setting out their hours and patterns of hours during which free places are offered.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of replacing EHCPs under SEND reform plans on children with complex needs.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
This government inherited a special educational needs and disability (SEND) system that has been failing to meet the needs of children and families for far too long. The department knows that families face real challenges getting education, health and care (EHC) plans where their children need them and ultimately, even after fighting to secure the entitlement, a plan does not guarantee that the right support will be delivered.
That is why the department is currently considering reforms to the SEND system and will be setting out proposals in a White Paper in the autumn. Our priority is improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, so that they can achieve and thrive. This means addressing the overall systemic issues that make SEND support so hard to access. As part of the work leading up to the White Paper, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has met a range of children, families and campaigners to explore how the SEND system can be improved.
At this stage the department has not made any decisions about the future of EHC plans. As my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has said, there will always be a legal right to the additional support that children with SEND need.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has consulted families and local authorities on the future of EHCPs as part of SEND system reform.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
This government inherited a special educational needs and disability (SEND) system that has been failing to meet the needs of children and families for far too long. The department knows that families face real challenges getting education, health and care (EHC) plans where their children need them and ultimately, even after fighting to secure the entitlement, a plan does not guarantee that the right support will be delivered.
That is why the department is currently considering reforms to the SEND system and will be setting out proposals in a White Paper in the autumn. Our priority is improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, so that they can achieve and thrive. This means addressing the overall systemic issues that make SEND support so hard to access. As part of the work leading up to the White Paper, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has met a range of children, families and campaigners to explore how the SEND system can be improved.
At this stage the department has not made any decisions about the future of EHC plans. As my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has said, there will always be a legal right to the additional support that children with SEND need.