Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to manage increases in demand for nursery places.

Concerning the number of new spaces that will need to be made available for pre-school childcare providers, the department used the results from the 2021 Childcare and early years survey as a guide. The results of this survey are accessible at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/childcare-and-early-years-survey-of-parents/2021. The data tables at 1.6 and 1.7 show the proportion of children at the relevant ages using formal childcare, and for how long per week. This data was used to estimate, of the children using the offer, how many need new places compared to how many already would pay for childcare under the pre-existing system.

The department is providing £204 million this year, increasing to £288 million by 2024/25, for local authorities to increase the hourly funding rate to providers. As a result of this additional funding, funding rates to local authorities will rise by an average of 32% for the current 2-year-old entitlement, and by an average of 6.3% for 3-4-year-old entitlements from September 2023, compared to their current 2023/24 rates.

The department is ensuring a phased implementation of the expansion to the 30 hours offer to allow the market to develop the necessary capacity. The department is also launching a new national recruitment campaign to support the recruitment and retention of talented staff to support the expansion of the 30 hours offer.

We are also consulting on changes to the early years foundation stage framework that aim to reduce known burdens on providers and offer them more flexibility. The department is continuing to explore how the sector can be supported to deliver the additional places that will be required.

We will also continue to monitor the sufficiency of childcare places. The department’s childcare and early years provider survey shows that the number of places available has remained broadly stable since 2019.

The key measure of sufficiency is whether the supply of available places is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents and children.

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. Part B of the early education and childcare statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing.

Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and, where needed, supports the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.