Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to his Answer of 21 February 2019 to Question 222632, on Pre-school Education: Closures, what estimate he has made of the number of children with SEND affected by the closure of maintained nursery schools in the last five years.

Like all schools, maintained nursery schools (MNS) can close for a wide range of reasons, and closures can happen at any time. Whether a MNS closes or not is a matter for local authorities, and the statutory process for closing a MNS includes consultation with all those who have an interest. The department does not hold information on the reasons for closures.

The department does not hold information on the number of children with special educational needs and disabilities who have been affected by MNS closures, as this is also a matter for local authorities. If a MNS does close, the provision that replaces it must be of equal quality, preserve expertise and be more accessible and convenient for parents.

To ensure that local authorities can allocate places in MNS for the 2019/20 academic year with confidence, I announced on 28 February that the government would extend the supplementary funding paid to local authorities, by approximately £24 million. This enables them to fully-fund MNS for the whole of the 2019/20 academic year. What happens after that will be determined by the next Spending Review.