Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pathfinders for wraparound care provision in schools there will be; in which areas; how those areas will be chosen; how much funding each such pathfinder will receive; how that amount will be calculated; for how many weeks of the year that provision will be delivered; what provision will be delivered in school holiday periods, and if she will make a statement.

To improve the availability of wraparound childcare the government has announced that we will invest £289 million in a national pathfinder scheme in England to support local authorities to work with primary schools to set up and deliver wraparound childcare before and after school.

The department is working with schools, private providers, and local authorities to ensure that this programme is designed to meet the needs of parents. The investment will support local authorities and schools to test flexible ways of providing childcare which could include working in partnership with other schools or private providers on site.

Schools and local areas will be able to access the funding from September 2024 across two academic years, with some local authorities acting as trailblazers to roll out the programme earlier. The funding period will run until April 2026, by which point the government expects most primary schools will be able to deliver their own before and after school provision that is self-financing and sustainable in the longer term.

The department will provide further information about the pathfinder scheme as it becomes available.