Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to assess the adequacy of the number of childcare places.

The department continues to monitor the sufficiency of childcare places. The key measure of sufficiency is whether the supply of available places is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents and children.

The department’s Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey shows that the number of places available has remained broadly stable since 2019. Additionally, the population of children aged 0-4 in this period has fallen.

Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address these issues, and where needed to support the local authority with any specific requirements through the department’s childcare sufficiency support contract.