Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate, broken down by each UK (a) nation and (b) region, of the number and proportion of all two-year-olds who were eligible for 15 hours per week of free education and childcare in each of the last five years.

Statistics relating to the 15-hour and 30-hour entitlements are published in the annual 'Education provision: children under 5 years of age’ publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-provision-children-under-5. The next release containing January 2023 data is scheduled to be published at the end of June 2023.

The 15 and 30-hour entitlements are delivered by local authorities in England and figures for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved administrations.

There were 135,410 2-year-olds and 1,212,234 3- and 4-year-olds who were registered for the 15-hour entitlement in England in January 2022. These children made up an estimated 72% of eligible 2-year-olds and 92% of all 3- and 4-year-olds respectively. A breakdown of these figures by English region can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/64a833c2-2940-4b9f-933c-08db08498a11.

An estimated 188,318 2-year-olds were eligible for the 15-hour entitlement in England in January 2022, compared to 215,879 in January 2018. Figures for 2018 to 2022, including breakdowns by English region, can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/acbbfd49-2d45-4b58-4871-08db0841e01e.

In 2022, an estimated 30% of all 2-year-olds in England were eligible for the 15-hour entitlement, down from an estimated 32% in 2018. These figures were estimated using Office for National Statistics population estimates and Department for Work and Pensions data on the number of children meeting the benefit and tax credit eligibility criteria. Figures for 2018 to 2022, including breakdowns by English region, are attached.