Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that early years guidance and reforms are implemented consistently across local authorities.

The department continually monitors early years provision across England ensuring that all guidance and reforms are implemented.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England, about provision, specifically regarding the sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing.

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

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. Part B of the ‘Early education and childcare’ statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents.

Where a local authority reports any sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action the local authority is taking to address those issues, and where needed, support them with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.