Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has provided recent guidance to local authorities on the exercise of their responsibilities to which they must have regard under section 7(3) of the Childcare Act 2006; and when she plans to next revise that guidance.

When delivering the free early education entitlements, local authorities have a statutory duty under the Childcare Act 2006 to ensure that their local areas have sufficient childcare provision for parents who require childcare to work, and a duty to secure free early years provision for eligible children.

In undertaking these duties, local authorities must have regard to the department’s statutory guidance which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/718179/Early_education_and_childcare-statutory_guidance.pdf.

This guidance supports local authorities to understand how to meet their statutory responsibilities under Sections 6 and 7 of the Childcare Act 2006, as well as under the Childcare Act 2016. The guidance was last revised from 1 September 2018 following the introduction of 30 hours free childcare for foster children. This is supplemented by the Early years entitlements operational guidance, which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1027881/Early_years_entitlements-operational_guidance__3_.pdf.

The department keeps the statutory and operational guidance under review and updates it as necessary.