Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number of (a) schools and (b) local authorities that will take part in the wraparound pathfinder scheme to support the expansion of school-based childcare provision either side of the school day in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26.

To improve the availability of wraparound childcare, the government has announced an investment of £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.

Schools and local areas will be able to access the funding from September 2024 across two academic years, with some trailblazer local authorities rolling out the programme earlier. The funding period will run until April 2026, by which point the department 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 is working with schools, private providers, and local authorities to ensure that this programme is designed to meet the needs of parents, and we will provide further information about the pathfinder scheme as it becomes available.