Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2020 to Question 118052, for what reasons the Spending review 2020 did include information on supplementary funding for maintained nursery schools after the 2020/21 academic year.

The government has secured a continuation of around £60 million of supplementary funding for maintained nursery schools (MNS) in the 2021/22 financial year, as part of the 2020 Spending Review. The department continues to consider what is required to ensure a clear, long-term picture of funding for MNS, and will say more about this soon.

The government has already confirmed that up to £23 million of supplementary funding will be provided to local authorities, to enable them to continue protecting the funding of MNS during the summer term in 2021. This provides MNS with certainty about funding for the 2020/21 academic year.

This government remains committed to the long-term funding of MNS, and any reform to the way they are funded will be accompanied by appropriate funding protections.