Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education; how many households are eligible for 15 hours of free childcare for children aged three and four in each English region; how many households have applied to that scheme since that scheme was introduced; how many of those households have been successful; and how many households have received 15 hours free childcare in the most recent period for which figures are available.

All families who have a child of 3 and 4 years of age are eligible for 15 hours’ funded early education over no fewer than 38 weeks of the year. Since September 2010, all 3 and 4 year olds have been entitled to 570 hours a year of funded early education over no fewer than 38 weeks of the year. This equates to 15 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year.

The number of eligible 3 and 4 year olds and the number of 3 and 4 year olds benefitting from 15 hours’ funded early education are shown in the table. Given universal eligibility, the number of households who applied and the number of households who were successful are not available. Figures dating back to 2011 can be found in the ‘Provision for children under 5 years of age in England, January 2018’ statistics publication. This was published on 28 June 2018 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2018.