Early Years Funding: Hampshire

Debate between Matt Rodda and Olivia Bailey

Wednesday 1st July 2026 Westminster Hall

[Matt Rodda (Reading Central) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making an excellent point. Does she agree that there is genuine excitement and joy from families when they see the benefits of this investment? She and I have both witnessed that in our community in Reading. The Government are building on a great tradition in that local authority; I wish other local authorities invested to that extent.

[Olivia Bailey]

I thank my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour for giving me the opportunity to thank the fantastic early years staff in my constituency of Reading West and Mid Berkshire and across Reading, who do a brilliant job for our children. As a constituency MP, as well as a Minister, I know that giving every child the best possible start in life is so important for their future life chances. If we get it right in the early years, it makes a transformational difference as they grow older.

The work we are doing is thanks to our brilliant early education sector, which has worked tirelessly to deliver the large expansion of childcare, making it such a success. We have a responsibility to ensure that the sector is financially sustainable to deliver the entitlements and high-quality early years provision. That is why we are investing record amounts in early education and why, through our proposals, we have the back of the sector. In 2026-27, we expect to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years entitlements, more than doubling annual public investment in the early years compared with 2023-24. We are investing over £1 billion more than last year to deliver a full year of expanded entitlements and an above-inflation increase to entitlements funding rates.

The national average funding rate increases continue to reflect the forecast cost pressures on the sector, including the national living wage, and they take into account the wider workforce pressures felt by the sector that the hon. Member for North East Hampshire mentioned. On average nationally, we have increased the three and four-year-old hourly funding rate by 4.95%, the two-year-old hourly funding rate by 4.36% and the funding rate for the nine months to two-year-old entitlement by 4.28%. That investment, alongside the hard work and dedication of countless colleagues in the sector, means that working families are saving an average of £8,000 a year.

There has also been a benefit in Hampshire from those rate increases. The rates set for Hampshire have seen increases of 3.6% for three to four-year-olds, 2.9% for two-year-olds and 2.8% for under-twos. That means that Government-paid rates for Hampshire are £6.38 for three to four-year-olds, £8.73 for two-year-olds and £11.81 for under-twos. That compares relatively favourably with average rates, which are marginally above those figures. This demonstrates, I think, our commitment to properly funding our early years settings to continue to deliver on this vital mission.

Hourly rates vary between local authorities, reflecting the relative needs of the children and the different costs of delivering provision across the country. Those rates are calculated using the early years national funding formula, which is used to target funding to local authorities where it is needed most. We believe that that approach is fair, efficient and transparent. Of course, we keep funding rates under review, and I assure the hon. Member that the team will have listened carefully to her points today. She may also be interested to know that, as we committed in the best start in life strategy, we plan to review early years funding and consult on changes to how we distribute that funding. I would welcome her contribution to that review. The consultation will begin imminently, and I ask her and everybody here today to encourage their constituents to feed into it.

We are also investing to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds and with additional needs to ensure that every child, no matter their circumstances, has the best start in life. On top of the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium in 2025-26, this year we increased early years pupil premium rates by 15%, equivalent to up to £655 per eligible child per year. We also expect to spend over £90 million on maintained nursery school supplementary funding in 2026-27. The best start in life strategy sets out our plan to boost uptake of the 15-hour entitlements to two, three and four-year-olds by working with local authorities and family hubs and tracking data through the local outcomes framework.

The hon. Member for North East Hampshire mentioned the vital issue of SEND. To support children with SEND, a further £47 million is being provided in 2026-27 to support greater inclusion of children with special educational needs and disabilities as part of our three-year £1.6 billion inclusive mainstream fund. That is on top of mandatory SEN inclusion funds, through which providers can access support for children with early and emerging needs in their settings. Through the disability access fund, eligible children can also receive £975 per child per year to support reasonable adjustments.

Early years settings will also benefit from a dedicated early years offer within a £200 million national training package and access to specialist advice from health and education professionals through Experts at Hand. I assure the hon. Member that we are working tirelessly on this vital issue to ensure that every child with additional needs gets the help and support they need.

The hon. Lady also talked about the vital importance of the workforce. We know that we must invest in the workforce to ensure the best possible future for the early education system in this country. That is one reason why, earlier this month, we launched a £4,500 payment to attract and retain qualified nursery teachers in the communities that need them most, starting in 10 areas and expanding to 30 later this year. The scheme will boost outcomes for children and allow more families to access their funded childcare entitlement. Alongside that, we committed in the BSIL strategy to continue supporting the sector to grow and professionalise, and I assure Members that work on that is continuing at pace.

Our record expansion of childcare means that the Government now fund around 80% of childcare hours in the country, which is a remarkable figure. In effect, it means that we have created a new public service, and we must ensure that that public service is working for providers, parents and children. We announced at the autumn Budget 2025 that the Department is leading a review of early education and childcare support, provided by different parts of the Government. Our review will set out a new vision for the early education and care system—one that builds children’s life chances and supports parents’ work choices, and one that is simpler and easier to use for both providers and parents, improving access and the impact of the Government’s investment in children and families.

I look forward to engaging with colleagues from across the House as we make progress on that review. I also look forward to engaging widely with the sector, which is wonderfully diverse. It is important for me to say at the Dispatch Box how much we value the many private and voluntary nurseries that are operating at a brilliant level to provide such a great service for our children and young people. They will be at the heart of the review and of any future system.

I conclude by thanking all Members for their thoughtful contributions. It is clear that we share a common goal to ensure that every child has the best possible start in life and that every family can access high-quality, affordable and flexible childcare. Despite our record funding, I recognise the challenges faced by some in the sector, particularly the costs that providers face and funding distribution. That is why we are continuing to work closely with them to refine our funding approach through consultation and to always make sure that we are listening, so I am grateful to the hon. Member for North East Hampshire. Through our consultation and review, we can ensure that our early education system fulfils the ambition that we all have for it. This is about more than childcare; it is about opportunity and life chances. I remain confident that, working together, we can deliver a system that truly meets the needs of every child and every family.

Question put and agreed to.

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Debate between Matt Rodda and Olivia Bailey

Wednesday 22nd April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Olivia Bailey]

I am pleased to speak on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for our third consideration of Lords amendments. The Bill is the biggest single piece of child protection legislation in a generation, and it will put in place a package of support to drive high and rising standards throughout our education and care system, so that every child can achieve and thrive. Today, I ask the House to again reaffirm its support for this landmark legislation.

I turn first to Lords amendment 102 on the circumstances in which the independent adjudicator can specify a lower published admission number following an upheld objection. In this age of declining roles, it is important that these powers exist to ensure that every child has the opportunity to have a great school place. But the Government have been clear throughout this process that school quality and parental choice must be at the heart of PAN decisions. As committed to by my noble Friend Lady Smith in the other place, we have tabled amendments in lieu reflecting this. These amendments place a requirement on the face of the Bill for adjudicators to take account of school quality and parental preference before deciding a PAN following an upheld objection. They will also require the adjudicator, before making a decision to reduce the school’s PAN, to consult key parties about alternatives to lowering the school’s admissions number. Those parties are the admissions authority, the local authority and the Secretary of State, which in practice means consulting the relevant Department for Education regional director.

We are also taking a power to make it clear that we can require the adjudicator to consult additional parties in line with commitments in our policy paper. Through the Bill, we will ensure that a robust decision-making framework is in place to protect high-quality education and parental choice, and we will continue to engage with stakeholders, such as the Confederation of School Trusts, on this measure, including on proposed changes to regulations and the school admissions code.

I now turn to Lords amendments 38V to 38X on children’s access to social media. There is a clear consensus across this House on the need to protect children online, but our consultation goes further than these amendments, considering a wider set of options, including risks beyond social media, such as gaming and AI chatbots. Hon. Members should have no doubt that it is not a question of whether the Government act but how they act to deliver strong and enduring protections for children online. The House should also be clear that the Government will act quickly.

[Matt Rodda (Reading Central) (Lab)]

Can I thank my hon. Friend for the Government’s work on this important matter, which is much appreciated by many parents—in particular the work of looking ahead at what further measures might be taken to tackle online harms?

[Olivia Bailey]

I thank my hon. Friend for his important intervention and for all his work for his constituents in Reading Central.

To underline the fact that we will act quickly, we have committed to responding to the consultation by the summer and have made a legislative commitment to report to Parliament within six months.

Antisocial Behaviour and Illegal Bikes

Debate between Matt Rodda and Olivia Bailey

Wednesday 5th March 2025 Westminster Hall

[Matt Rodda (Reading Central) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Tipton and Wednesbury (Antonia Bance) for her excellent work on this important matter. I offer my wholehearted support to the Minister and the Government for their important work tackling these terrible forms of antisocial behaviour.

In the time available to me, I want to point out two examples of how serious this problem is in my community of Reading, and the really serious appalling incidents that residents have seen in recent times. In the first case, a group of riders on high-powered electric bikes clad in black with balaclavas and hoodies, with no helmets, were pulling wheelies down the Reading Inner Distribution Road. That is a major trunk road that runs round the town centre. It is full of cars and vehicles, and it has a 40 mph speed limit, so it is totally unsuitable for off-road bikes. That is extremely reckless and dangerous. It puts other people’s lives at risk along with the lives of the riders. I think that incident was appalling and action should be taken. I am grateful to the Minister for her work on tackling the problem.

The second example was in some ways even worse. I saw it myself and reported it to the police. It was an example of a similar group and similar behaviour. They were dressed in the same way, riding motorbikes next to the River Thames in Caversham, which is a suburb of Reading. There is a ramp to a footbridge by the river there, and that ramp is probably 12 or 15 feet above the floodplain, with a gentle grass slope on either side. There was a group of young people clad in black with high-powered bikes using it to do Evel Knievel-style jumps through the air. They were getting about 2 or 3 metres into the air. There were families having picnics nearby and people trying to use the footbridge. That is an example of the sort of appalling behaviour that unfortunately exists around the country.

[Olivia Bailey (Reading West and Mid Berkshire) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend will know that many of the illegal bikes that he is describing in his constituency will cross the boundary into mine. People in Tilehurst and the villages in my constituency are absolutely fed up of these bikes. They are dangerous, they are a menace, and they are often associated with criminal activity. Will my hon. Friend join me in thanking our local police force, which is working hard to tackle these illegal bikes, and welcoming the new powers that the Government are giving the police to help them do that?

[Matt Rodda]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. She is a doughty campaigner on this issue, and exactly as she said, it is a huge menace across our county and around the country. My hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (Peter Swallow), who is just down the road, also mentioned it. My hon. Friend the Member for Reading West and Mid Berkshire (Olivia Bailey) is absolutely right that the police are doing some excellent work and that they need more powers, and I thank the Government for their work on this matter.

Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords]

Debate between Matt Rodda and Olivia Bailey

2nd reading
Monday 16th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Olivia Bailey (Reading West and Mid Berkshire) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend’s constituency neighbours my constituency of Reading West and Mid Berkshire. In addition to the beautiful chalk stream, the Kennet, I also have the beautiful River Pang, which has unfortunately been decimated by the sewage outflows under the previous Government, with children walking to school through raw sewage in the streets—an absolute disgrace. Does he agree that the measures in this Bill will get tough on failing water companies such as Thames Water?

[Matt Rodda]

I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. That is exactly the problem, and I want to help Members to picture its seriousness.

In 2023, Foudry brook, which flows into the Kennet, was badly polluted. Next to well-established willow trees on the banks of that small river, which flows through local fields and past people’s terraced houses into Reading, I saw with my own eyes putrid green water—the stench was unbelievable—caused by a sewage outfall in Hampshire that flowed into Foudry brook and ultimately into the Kennet, then into the main River Thames. That is the sort of disgusting pollution that we are concerned about, which is why I am so pleased with the Government’s action on this important matter. It is also important to local residents who live next to rivers, who walk near rivers, who use canoes or boats in rivers, or who fish in rivers. Thousands of local residents in my area, across our county and in other similar parts of England, as well as those living near lakes and seas, are affected by this issue.

I have seen other appalling instances of pollution. In another case, I was walking with my wife next to the Thames in the middle of winter. It was a beautiful scene and, looking across the river, we could see trees, fields and hillsides in the distance. There was a heron on the water. Sadly, this view was blighted by the sight of dark brown-cream foam frothing on the river and gathering next to an island—the foam was caused by nitrate pollution from sewage.

This was in the River Thames, in a beautiful area just outside Reading, and it is the sort of disgusting pollution that we and our constituents are all having to face. That is why this Bill is so important, and I hope we can all agree to support it because such appalling pollution simply should not be taking place in England, or in any part of the United Kingdom.

I realise that time is pressing, but the measures in this Bill will also tackle some very serious issues with water supply. I have residents who had their water cut off for two days, nearly a year ago, and still have not been compensated. This affected hundreds of people living in east Reading, in the Newtown area near Reading University and the Royal Berkshire hospital. They were unable to shower or cook, and they had multiple other problems caused by the lack of water supply. I endorse the Government’s measures to toughen up the response to such failures of service.

We recently had another incident where residents were expected to drive 9 miles to Henley-on-Thames to collect water, which is simply unacceptable. Residents, including vulnerable residents, had to drive for a 45 or 50-minute round trip to collect bottled water from a Tesco supermarket on the outskirts of Henley, yet there were multiple sites in the north part of Reading from where emergency water supplies could have been delivered.

Both examples show why this important legislation is needed. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak tonight, and I look forward to hearing more from my hon. Friends.