Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the financial viability of the early years education sector; what estimate his Department has made of the number of early years education settings that (a) were open as at 28 March 2022 and (b) will be open in the next 12 months; and what data his Department holds on the number of those settings that have closed in each month in the last six months.

The key measure of market health monitored by the department is whether the supply of available places is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents and children. The department continues to monitor the sufficiency of childcare through regular surveys and through regular conversations with local authorities. Local authorities are not currently reporting any substantial sufficiency issues and we have not seen a substantial number of parents unable to secure childcare places.

According to the findings from the 2021 childcare and early years providers survey, 7 in 10 group-based providers reported having spare places in their full day provision and almost half of childminders (49%) reported having spare capacity on average across the week.

The most recent data, published by Ofsted on the number of early years providers as of 31 December 2021 concludes there were 54,310 providers on Ofsted’s early year register, of which 30,655 were childminders and 23,416 were childcare providers on non-domestic premises.

Between 31 August 2021 and 31 December 2021, across all provider types on the early years register in England, 1,032 providers joined the early years register and 2,445 providers left the early years register.

Leavers mainly consist of those that have left Ofsted during the reporting period, most of which are resignations. However, there are small number of providers that may have just changed provider type or register.

The department conducted a pulse survey with providers specifically during the Omicron wave, for the week commencing 14 February and estimated 96% of early years education providers were fully open, with a further 3% partially open.

Between 27 November and 20 December 2020, 47% per cent of open group-based providers and 56% of open childminders were reasonably confident that it would be financially sustainable to continue to run their childcare provision for another year or longer. This study was conducted during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and some providers may have completed the survey prior to any announcements about spring term funding.

The department will continue to evaluate the sufficiency and quality of childcare provision and engage with sector stakeholders and local authorities to monitor dynamics within local markets, parents' access to the government's entitlements and the childcare they require, and the sustainability of the sector.