Jon Cruddas

We have spent over £3.5 billion in each of the past 3 years on our early education entitlements and the government continues to support families with their childcare costs. On 25 November 2020, we announced a £44 million investment for the 2021-22 financial year, for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers. The Early Years National Funding Formula allocates our funding fairly and transparently.

Last year, when access to childcare was restricted to vulnerable children and the children of critical workers, the government block-bought early years places so that childcare providers received early entitlement funding even when children were not able to attend settings. On 1 June 2020, early years was one of the first sectors to re-open, and has been able to welcome all children to settings ever since. The government has also provided unprecedented support to businesses during the COVID-19 outbreak, through schemes such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. As a result, childcare providers have been able to furlough their staff whereby they have experienced a drop in their income from parents or government to help with staffing costs.

As with other sectors, the COVID-19 outbreak has been an uncertain time for childcare providers, with many reporting concerns about long term viability of their settings as a result. Our policy is to ensure that there are sufficient childcare places to meet demand from parents. Despite the level of uncertainty faced by providers over the COVID-19 outbreak, Ofsted data shows that as of 31 March 2021, the number of childcare places for providers on the Early Years Register has remained broadly stable since August 2015. This is in the context of declining birth rate (in 2019 there was a 12.2% decrease in live births since the most recent peak in 2012).

A recent survey by Ipsos MORI in March 2021 found that nearly nine in ten (88%) parents of 0 to 4 year olds whose child used formal childcare before COVID-19 reported that their child was using formal childcare at the time of the survey.

We liaise regularly with local authorities and they have not reported to us a significant number of parents unable to secure a childcare place, this term or since early years settings re-opened fully on 1 June 2020. Where parents have been unable to temporarily secure a childcare place (for example, due to their usual setting being temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak), this has been able to be quickly resolved locally, and local authorities are not reporting significant sufficiency of supply issues. We continue to work with local authorities and the sector to ensure there is sufficient, safe and affordable childcare for those who need it most.

The Environment Agency (EA) has been liaising with the Local Government Association (LGA) in regards to a draft guidance document and has input to a section covering environment and drainage. This considers the discharge of effluent from hand car washes. To ensure that local councils are made aware of such considerations for this form of car washing, the EA considered that the publication of the guidance would be made by the LGA as opposed to writing to individual councils.

The EA joined a workshop held by the Responsible Car Wash Scheme on 26 November 2019 in London, where the guidance was discussed. The EA is awaiting confirmation from the LGA that the guidance has been published and issued to local authorities.

A copy of the dated correspondence from the Environment Agency to major supermarkets will be placed in the Library of the House. Replies were not requested and have not been recorded centrally.

The guidance was updated in May 2019 and can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pollution-prevention-for-businesses.

The Environment Agency has restructured this guide to improve the experience of users and eliminate duplication.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have no current plans to appoint a National Clinical Director for allergy. This is kept under review and new National Clinical Directors or Specialty Advisers are appointed as necessary. The Department hosted a roundtable meeting in January 2022, attended by NHS England and NHS Improvement and stakeholders, where the potential benefits of a National Clinical Director for Allergy was discussed.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have no current plans to appoint a National Clinical Director for allergy. This is kept under review and new National Clinical Directors or Specialty Advisers are appointed as necessary. The Department hosted a roundtable meeting in January 2022, attended by NHS England and NHS Improvement and stakeholders, where the potential benefits of a National Clinical Director for Allergy was discussed.

Tax Free Childcare (TFC) is delivered by the Childcare Service via GOV.UK. Parents and childcare providers manage their accounts via the Service.

There is not a cost to parents or providers in managing their accounts. A small number of providers may incur set up costs to ensure their processes are compatible with the online system. HM Revenue & Customs, who administer TFC, do not hold this information.

The Department publishes annual revenue budget and outturn data on local authority revenue expenditure and financing. These include council tax revenue foregone under local council tax support schemes. Outturn data for 2020-21 are scheduled for publication by Autumn 2021. These will capture costs to local authorities of providing local council tax support during the pandemic and will be available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing#2020-to-2021 .

The Department collects monthly monitoring returns on the financial impact of Covid-19 on local authorities, including data on the number of local council tax support claimants. In the most recent round, returns were received from 310 out of 314 billing authorities surveyed.

The Department publishes quarterly official statistics recording the number of local council tax support claimants, at the following address: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/910192/LCTS_claimants_2020-21_Q1.xlsx . The next release covering the second quarter of 2020/21 is planned for 25 November.

Council tax expected to be forgone in 2019-20 as a result of providing council tax support for working age and pensioner households was published as part of the Council Taxbase 2019 statistical release: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/council-taxbase-2019-in-england.

The amount of council tax expected to be forgone is included in the CT Support section of the local authority level dropdown.

The Government considers views from a wide range of organisations, including the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and takes account of them as part of its ongoing management of council tax policy. Local authorities are responsible for the design of schemes that provide council tax support to low-income households in their area.