Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department allocated to Enfield Council through the Early Years Professional Development Programme (Phase 2) in each of the last ten years in real terms.

Phase 2 of the Professional Development Programme (PDP2) ran during one calendar year, from January to July 2022, providing high-quality training to over 1,300 practitioners in 51 local authorities. The training covered early language, early mathematics and personal, social and emotional development.

To enable practitioners to access the training, the department provided funding for backfill costs, through a Section 31 grant to local authorities. Local authorities were asked to pass on the backfill funding to settings participating in the programme. The backfill was paid in two tranches.

Tranche 1, covering training delivered in January to March 2022, was issued to local authorities in March 2022. In Tranche 1, Enfield Council was paid £14,300.

Tranche 2, covering training delivered in April to July 2022, was issued in March 2023. In Tranche 2 Enfield Council was paid £12,700.