Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications to the early years Disability Access Fund have been made; and how many have been granted.

The Disability Access Fund, introduced in April 2017, is not something for which an application needs to be made. Local councils are required to pay £615 to early years settings for each child that is:

• taking-up the 3- and 4-year old free entitlement (not in reception); and

• receiving Disability Living Allowance.

Therefore, local councils have no discretion over whether it should be granted where the child meets the eligibility criteria.