Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has taken steps with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) rateable values and (b) small business rates relief on (i) nurseries and (ii) pre-schools.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
It is the government’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.
The small business rate relief scheme provides up to 100% relief for eligible businesses occupying one property with a rateable value of £12,000 or below, and reduced bills up to £15,000. Further, if a nursery is a charity, charitable rate relief provides 80% off rates bills, which can be topped up to 100% by the local authority.
The government funds local authorities to deliver the early years entitlements through the early years national funding formula for the 3 and 4-year-old entitlement and a separate formula for the 2-year-old and below entitlement. The hourly funding rate paid to local authorities for these entitlements is designed to recognise the average costs across different provider types and is intended to reflect staff and non-staff costs, including business rates. In 2025/26 alone, the department plans to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements, an additional £2 billion (over 30% increase) compared to 2024/25, as we roll out the expansion of the entitlements.
There are no current plans to extend the centralised payment system to private, voluntary or independent early years settings or to make these settings exempt. However, all processes are kept under review.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which groups were consulted on the withdrawal of funding for non-specialist assistive software through the Disabled Students' Allowance.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department engaged with individual disability experts with relevant experience to gather feedback on the proposals. These experts were consulted in a personal capacity, and the department is therefore not able to provide their personal information.
This policy change relates to non-specialist spelling and grammar software only. The decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) funding was made on the grounds that there are now free to access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs, and it is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through DSA.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department plans to provide for (a) dance, (b) drama, (c) music and (d) musical theatre higher education courses in each of the next three years.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department is determined that the higher education (HE) funding system should deliver for our economy, for universities and for students. The HE sector needs a secure financial footing, which is why, after seven years of frozen fee caps under the previous government, we took last year the difficult decision to increase maximum tuition fee limits for the 2025/26 academic year by 3.1%, in line with the forecast rate of inflation.
In return for the increased investment we are asking students to make we expect the sector to deliver the very best outcomes, both for those students and for the country.
Additionally, the government provides annual funding to the HE sector through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG), which supports teaching of expensive-to-deliver subjects, access and participation and world-leading specialist providers.
My right hon. Friend, The Secretary of State for Education will shortly issue guidance to the Office for Students, setting out SPG funding for the 2025/26 academic year and her priorities for it. Funding for subsequent years will be agreed following the government’s spending review.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Office for Students will be required to provide a third category for registration; and whether this will take into account the specialised environments of small specialist providers.
Answered by Janet Daby
I refer the hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole to the answer of 18 March 2025 to Question 36617.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the savings to her Department from the withdrawal of funding for non-specialist assistive software through the Disabled Students' Allowance.
Answered by Janet Daby
Funding under the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) is in general not available for goods and services that may be needed by the general student population, whether disabled or not. The department has withdrawn funding for non-specialist software as this falls outside the scope of the DSA. We will monitor the savings from the implementation of this policy.
This policy change relates to non-specialist spelling and grammar software only. The decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from DSA funding was made on the grounds that there are now free to access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs, and it is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through the DSA.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to review the upper threshold for small business rates relief for early years providers.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The government is committed to ensuring children have the best start in life, and has set a target of a record number of children starting school ready to learn as part of the government’s Plan for Change.
Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. They are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting this duty, and to make this report available to parents. The department regularly discusses sufficiency with each local authority in England, and where there are challenges, the necessary actions to take and provision of support via our childcare sufficiency support contract is explored. We do not currently have any reports of sufficiency issues in any local authority.
The latest available figures on early years providers show that, between 31 August and 31 December 2024, 1,275 providers joined Ofsted’s Early Years Register and 1,581 providers left the Register. In the same period, the number of registered places grew slightly from 1,275,264 to 1,277,932.
His Majesty's Treasury has been working on a fundamental review of business rates in the UK. The latest update indicates that the final report of this review will be published in autumn 2025. This review aims to reduce the overall burden on businesses, improve the current business rates system and consider more fundamental changes in the medium-to-long term. Childcare providers are being considered as part of this, and the review acknowledges the unique challenges faced by nurseries and other childcare providers.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of areas without childcare providers in England; and what estimate her Department has made of the number of early years providers that have closed since September 2024.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The government is committed to ensuring children have the best start in life, and has set a target of a record number of children starting school ready to learn as part of the government’s Plan for Change.
Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. They are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting this duty, and to make this report available to parents. The department regularly discusses sufficiency with each local authority in England, and where there are challenges, the necessary actions to take and provision of support via our childcare sufficiency support contract is explored. We do not currently have any reports of sufficiency issues in any local authority.
The latest available figures on early years providers show that, between 31 August and 31 December 2024, 1,275 providers joined Ofsted’s Early Years Register and 1,581 providers left the Register. In the same period, the number of registered places grew slightly from 1,275,264 to 1,277,932.
His Majesty's Treasury has been working on a fundamental review of business rates in the UK. The latest update indicates that the final report of this review will be published in autumn 2025. This review aims to reduce the overall burden on businesses, improve the current business rates system and consider more fundamental changes in the medium-to-long term. Childcare providers are being considered as part of this, and the review acknowledges the unique challenges faced by nurseries and other childcare providers.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the (a) changes to employer National Insurance contributions, (b) increase in the National Minimum Wage, (c) removal of the ability to charge for (i) consumables and (ii) compulsory extras and (d) requirement to extend funded hours of childcare provision to younger children as a standard rate on early years providers.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This government believes giving children the best start in life is the foundation of the mission to break down barriers to opportunity. We have set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn in the classroom. We will measure our progress through 75% of children reaching a good level of development in the early years foundation stage profile assessment by 2028. This assessment takes place at the end of reception.
In the 2025/26 financial year alone, this government plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements, which is a £2 billion increase on the previous year. The department is providing an additional £75 million expansion grant to support the sector in providing the additional places and staff needed ahead of the September 2025 expansion to 30 hours of childcare and early education from when a child is nine months old. The grant is focused on the 2 year-old and under-2s cohort to target the extra costs involved in delivering the entitlements to younger children.
The department will also deliver the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% compared to the 2024/25 financial year, which is equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year. On top of this, we are providing £25 million through the National Insurance contributions grant for public sector employers in early years.
In determining funding rates for 2025/26, the department will be reflecting forecasts of average earnings and inflation next year, including the National Living Wage. In line with a recent High Court judgment, any charges providers seek to levy must not be mandatory or a condition of accessing a funded place.
Providers must offer reasonable alternatives to parents that enable them to access the entitlements for free if they wish, however we know that many parents prefer to purchase consumables from their provider and will continue to be able to do so.
The department is grateful for the fantastic work the sector is doing to deliver the expanded entitlements and prepare for the final phase from September 2025. We are engaging closely with the sector through provider roadshows and engagement with representative bodies and will continue to listen to any concerns around costs and ensure the sector is financially sustainable going forward.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to take steps to identify alternative sources of funding for the university sector.
Answered by Janet Daby
The higher education (HE) sector needs a secure financial footing to face the challenges of the next decade and ensure that all students can be confident they will receive the world-class HE experience they deserve.
The government is also determined to work with the sector to transition to sustainable research funding models, including by increasing research grant cost recovery, as announced by UK Research and Innovation last week. However, universities will also need to take their own steps to ensure they are working as efficiently as possible and, where necessary, make difficult choices.
Ultimately, HE providers are independent from government and as such must continue to make the necessary and appropriate financial decisions to ensure their long-term sustainability.
The department has set out five priorities for reform of the HE system, which relate to access and outcomes for disadvantaged students, economic growth, the civic role of HE providers, teaching standards and efficiency, transparency and reform.
The department will publish our plan for HE reform this summer, and work with the sector and the Office for Students to ensure the system delivers these priorities.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to increase funding rates for early years provision of three and four year olds.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As usual, the hourly funding rates will vary between local authorities reflecting the different communities that local authorities serve. However, for the 2025/26 financial year, the national average three and four year-old hourly funding rate of local authorities is increasing by 4.1%. On top of this, eligible children can also attract additional funding through the early years pupil premium.
Early education gives all children, especially disadvantaged children, the best start in life. That is why the department is delivering the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% from 68p per hour in 2024/25 to £1 per hour in 2025/26, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year.
Future spending decisions beyond 2025/26 will be announced following the next spending review.