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Written Question
Childcare: Pay
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)

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, if her Department will publish the metric used in the Spring Budget 2023 to calculate the proposed increase to the hourly rate at which childcare providers are paid to deliver free hours.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Spring Budget announcement confirms how the department will uplift costs in future years. The department will use average earnings growth and National Living Wage to forecast how staff costs are changing for providers and CPI (a general measure of inflation) to forecast how non-staff costs will change.

By the 2027/28 financial year, this government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.

The estimated £500 million for 2025/26 and 2026/27, represents the additional cost of increasing funding rates, in line with these metrics and based on current forecasts, compared to if funding rates were kept at 2024/25 levels. A portion of this funding is reflected in the totals announced for the new entitlements at Spring Budget 2023 (and in table 4.1 referenced), which applied the same approach to uplifting funding rates as has been confirmed for 2025/26 and 2026/27 this week. Access to table 4.1 can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6419c87d8fa8f547c267efca/Web_accessible_Budget_2023.pdf.


Written Question
Childcare: Finance
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 3.15 of the Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, whether the estimated additional £500 million of funding for childcare support is the same funding included within the funding envelope in Table 4.1 of the Spring Budget 2023, HC 1183.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Spring Budget announcement confirms how the department will uplift costs in future years. The department will use average earnings growth and National Living Wage to forecast how staff costs are changing for providers and CPI (a general measure of inflation) to forecast how non-staff costs will change.

By the 2027/28 financial year, this government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.

The estimated £500 million for 2025/26 and 2026/27, represents the additional cost of increasing funding rates, in line with these metrics and based on current forecasts, compared to if funding rates were kept at 2024/25 levels. A portion of this funding is reflected in the totals announced for the new entitlements at Spring Budget 2023 (and in table 4.1 referenced), which applied the same approach to uplifting funding rates as has been confirmed for 2025/26 and 2026/27 this week. Access to table 4.1 can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6419c87d8fa8f547c267efca/Web_accessible_Budget_2023.pdf.


Written Question
Pre-school Education: Pupil Premium
Monday 19th February 2024

Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2024 to Question 12562 on Pre-school Education: Pupil Premium what estimate she has made of the number and proportion of children who will become eligible for the 15 hours childcare entitlement in (a) April and (b) September 2024 that will also be eligible for the Early Years Pupil Premium.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) gives providers additional funding to support disadvantaged children.

EYPP is currently available for 3 and 4 year olds eligible for the early years’ entitlements.

Parents may also get EYPP if their child is currently being looked after by a local authority in England or Wales, or if their child has left care in England or Wales through adoption, special guardianship order or a child arrangement order.

From April 2024, EYPP will be extended to all eligible 2 year olds, and from September 2024 to all eligible children aged 9 months to 3 years old.

On 19 December 2023, the department published indicative EYPP allocations for local authorities for 2024/25 as part of the wider Dedicated Schools Grant publication, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2024-to-2025.

The published tables include estimated numbers of children aged 9 months up to and including 2 year olds who the department anticipates will take up EYPP in 2024/25. This includes estimated part-time equivalents for EYPP.

Further details on how the department has calculated these estimates are set out in the following document: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2024-to-2025/dsg-technical-note-2024-to-2025.


Written Question
Special Educational Needs: Finance
Monday 19th February 2024

Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to to her Answer on 6 February 2024 to Question 12559 on Special Educational Needs: Finance, when her Department will (a) complete and (b) publish their assessment of the Special Educational Needs Inclusion Funds (SENIFs) arrangements.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

As confirmed in the government’s response on 20 September 2023 to the consultation on expanding the early education entitlements, the department is conducting a review of the Special Educational Needs Inclusion Funds (SENIF) funding arrangements, so that the department can better support parents, providers and local authorities as the expanded entitlements are rolled out.

At the completion of this review, the department will consider what information is most appropriate and helpful for the sector in their delivery of SENIFs. The department will look to draw examples of best practice together, with a view to sector-wide dissemination.


Written Question
Special Educational Needs: Finance
Tuesday 6th February 2024

Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of providing special educational needs inclusion funding directly to providers based on identified need rather than through the early years national funding formula.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The early years national funding formulae contain an additional needs element, to take account of the number of children with additional needs in an area. This is important to ensure local authority level rates, and therefore allocations, reflect the needs of children in their area.

Local authorities establish Special Educational Needs Inclusion Funds (SENIFs) locally, using the early years block (distributed via the aforementioned formulae) and high needs blocks of their Dedicated Schools Grant allocation. More information on this allocation is available at: https://skillsfunding.service.gov.uk/view-latest-funding/national-funding-allocations/DSG/2024-to-2025. These funds are intended to support local authorities to work with providers to address the needs of individual children with Special Educational Needs who are taking up the entitlements and can be passed on direct to providers by local authorities.

The government’s response on 20 September 2023 to the consultation on expanding the early education entitlements reiterated the department’s commitment, made in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan of March 2023, to undertake a review of the way local authorities operate their SENIFs.

The department intends to conduct a detailed assessment of the SENIF arrangements that local authorities currently have in place, looking at how SENIFs are being used nationally and how far they are meeting current need. The department will look to draw examples of best practice together, with a view to sector-wide dissemination, and recommend longer term changes that will improve the extent to which SENIFs can meet the needs of children taking up the entitlements.


Written Question
Pre-school Education: Pupil Premium
Tuesday 6th February 2024

Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to extend the eligibility criteria for the early years pupil premium to children aged 9 months to three years who receive the 15 hours childcare entitlement in 2024.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The early years pupil premium is currently available for 3 and 4-year-olds eligible for the early years entitlements.

From April 2024, the early years pupil premium will be extended to all eligible 2-year-olds and from September 2024 to all eligible children aged 9-months to 3-year-old accessing the early years entitlements. This will be payable on a maximum of 15 hours per week, or 570 hours per year.


Written Question
Childcare: Recruitment
Monday 27th November 2023

Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education on 23 October 2023, Official Report, column 585, what estimates her Department made when developing the childcare staff recruitment campaign of the (a) number and (b) proportion of childcare staff that are likely to leave the sector in the next three years.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The campaign budget for the 2023/24 financial year is £6.5 million. The budget for future years is still to be confirmed. The department intends to measure the awareness amongst its target audience of the following: the opportunities available in early years, positive perceptions of careers in the sector and consideration of applying for early years roles. The department also intends to measure visits to a dedicated website where people will be able to find out more about early years, and the number who go on to take action on the site, for example in accessing the Find a Job platform, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/find-a-job.

The departmental campaign strategy is based on in depth analysis of the target audience and has been reviewed by a variety of key early years stakeholders and setting managers and staff.

Overall, the number of paid early years staff has remained stable in recent years. Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey 2022 data shows that between 2021 and 2022, the total number of early years staff increased by 5,900 (or 2 per cent), from 328,500 to 334,400. The survey data is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/childcare-and-early-years-provider-survey/2022.

The Provider Survey publication included estimates for the number of staff that were recruited by group-based and school-based providers in the last twelve months, as well as estimates of the number of number of staff who have left these providers in the last twelve months. However, these estimates do not distinguish between those who have joined or left from other early years providers, and those who joined or left from outside the sector. The department will publish updated estimates for the above in December, as well as new data on the destination of leaving staff members. The estimates of the approximate number of additional staff, required to meet demand from the new entitlements will be published in due course.


Written Question
Childcare: Recruitment
Monday 27th November 2023

Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education on 23 October 2023, Official Report, column 585, what the budget will be of the childcare staff recruitment campaign in each of the next three financial years.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The campaign budget for the 2023/24 financial year is £6.5 million. The budget for future years is still to be confirmed. The department intends to measure the awareness amongst its target audience of the following: the opportunities available in early years, positive perceptions of careers in the sector and consideration of applying for early years roles. The department also intends to measure visits to a dedicated website where people will be able to find out more about early years, and the number who go on to take action on the site, for example in accessing the Find a Job platform, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/find-a-job.

The departmental campaign strategy is based on in depth analysis of the target audience and has been reviewed by a variety of key early years stakeholders and setting managers and staff.

Overall, the number of paid early years staff has remained stable in recent years. Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey 2022 data shows that between 2021 and 2022, the total number of early years staff increased by 5,900 (or 2 per cent), from 328,500 to 334,400. The survey data is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/childcare-and-early-years-provider-survey/2022.

The Provider Survey publication included estimates for the number of staff that were recruited by group-based and school-based providers in the last twelve months, as well as estimates of the number of number of staff who have left these providers in the last twelve months. However, these estimates do not distinguish between those who have joined or left from other early years providers, and those who joined or left from outside the sector. The department will publish updated estimates for the above in December, as well as new data on the destination of leaving staff members. The estimates of the approximate number of additional staff, required to meet demand from the new entitlements will be published in due course.


Written Question
Childcare: Recruitment
Monday 27th November 2023

Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education on 23 October 2023, Official Report, column 585, what discussions her Department had with relevant stakeholders when designing the childcare staff recruitment campaign; and if she will publish (a) summaries of those discussions and (b) other evidence her Department received on the establishment of the recruitment campaign.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The campaign budget for the 2023/24 financial year is £6.5 million. The budget for future years is still to be confirmed. The department intends to measure the awareness amongst its target audience of the following: the opportunities available in early years, positive perceptions of careers in the sector and consideration of applying for early years roles. The department also intends to measure visits to a dedicated website where people will be able to find out more about early years, and the number who go on to take action on the site, for example in accessing the Find a Job platform, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/find-a-job.

The departmental campaign strategy is based on in depth analysis of the target audience and has been reviewed by a variety of key early years stakeholders and setting managers and staff.

Overall, the number of paid early years staff has remained stable in recent years. Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey 2022 data shows that between 2021 and 2022, the total number of early years staff increased by 5,900 (or 2 per cent), from 328,500 to 334,400. The survey data is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/childcare-and-early-years-provider-survey/2022.

The Provider Survey publication included estimates for the number of staff that were recruited by group-based and school-based providers in the last twelve months, as well as estimates of the number of number of staff who have left these providers in the last twelve months. However, these estimates do not distinguish between those who have joined or left from other early years providers, and those who joined or left from outside the sector. The department will publish updated estimates for the above in December, as well as new data on the destination of leaving staff members. The estimates of the approximate number of additional staff, required to meet demand from the new entitlements will be published in due course.


Written Question
Childcare: Staff
Monday 27th November 2023

Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education to the question from the hon. Member for Walthamstow of 23 October 2023, Official Report, column 585, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the expansion of subsidised childcare hours on the number of childcare staff required to meet demand.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The campaign budget for the 2023/24 financial year is £6.5 million. The budget for future years is still to be confirmed. The department intends to measure the awareness amongst its target audience of the following: the opportunities available in early years, positive perceptions of careers in the sector and consideration of applying for early years roles. The department also intends to measure visits to a dedicated website where people will be able to find out more about early years, and the number who go on to take action on the site, for example in accessing the Find a Job platform, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/find-a-job.

The departmental campaign strategy is based on in depth analysis of the target audience and has been reviewed by a variety of key early years stakeholders and setting managers and staff.

Overall, the number of paid early years staff has remained stable in recent years. Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey 2022 data shows that between 2021 and 2022, the total number of early years staff increased by 5,900 (or 2 per cent), from 328,500 to 334,400. The survey data is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/childcare-and-early-years-provider-survey/2022.

The Provider Survey publication included estimates for the number of staff that were recruited by group-based and school-based providers in the last twelve months, as well as estimates of the number of number of staff who have left these providers in the last twelve months. However, these estimates do not distinguish between those who have joined or left from other early years providers, and those who joined or left from outside the sector. The department will publish updated estimates for the above in December, as well as new data on the destination of leaving staff members. The estimates of the approximate number of additional staff, required to meet demand from the new entitlements will be published in due course.