Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2024 to Question 11047 on Childcare, what measure her Department uses to establish the requirements of local authorities for childcare places.

Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. The 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.

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 those issues and provides support where needed, to help the local authority with any specific requirements through its childcare sufficiency support contract.