Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of childcare; and what steps she taking to ensure there is an adequate supply of skills to address personnel shortages in that sector.

Ofsted data shows that the number of places offered by providers on the Early Years Register has remained broadly stable at 1.3 million places since August 2015. 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. The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing.

The department continues to explore how to best support the early years sector to recruit and retain the staff it needs. We will work closely with the sector to develop plans to grow and support the workforce. The department will share further information in due course.