Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to help ensure that no maintained nursery school closes in Slough constituency as a result of reductions in the Maintained Nursery School supplementary funding; and what steps he is taking to provide financial support to maintained nursery schools at risk of closure.

Maintained nursery schools (MNSs) are an important part of the early years sector and provide valuable services, especially in disadvantaged areas. This government remains committed to the long-term funding of MNSs. Early years providers, including MNSs, have continued to receive early education entitlements funding during the COVID-19 outbreak.

For the financial year 2021-22, we have increased the hourly funding rates for all local authorities by 8p an hour for the two-year-old entitlement and, for the vast majority of areas, by 6p an hour for the three- and four-year-old entitlement. This funding rate increase is paid for all the hours of childcare delivered by all types of providers in the local authority’s area, including MNSs. In addition to the hourly funding rate increase, we have also re-confirmed circa £60 million, nationally, in supplementary funding for MNSs for the financial year 2021-22, to allow local authorities to preserve MNS funding levels.

Details of funding paid to local authorities can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-funding-2021-2022.

The supplementary funding is demand-led, so the amount of funding local authorities will receive will follow the number of three- and four-year-olds taking up the universal 15 hours at MNSs in their area.

There is a presumption against the closure of maintained nursery schools, and any alternative provision must be of equal quality, preserve expertise and be more accessible for parents. The guidance that sets this out can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/851585/Opening_and_closing_maintained_schools1012.pdf.

This does not mean that MNSs can never close, and it is important to note that this decision is for a local authority to take, but it means that there are safeguards in place where closure cannot be avoided.

Like private nurseries, MNSs typically rely on private income for a proportion of their income, unlike most state-funded schools. Therefore, we have ensured that access to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) is also available to MNSs, in line with published guidance. On 3 March 2021, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced that the CJRS will be extended until the end of September 2021. As long as the staff meet the other criteria for the scheme, schools and early years providers are able to furlough their staff if they have experienced a drop in either their income from parents or government. MNSs were also able to access free school meals vouchers via Edenred.