Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2019 to Question 226664, Pre-school Education: Closures, what assessment he has made of the relationship between reductions in core funding for local authorities and closures of maintained nursery schools.

Local authorities are responsible for assessing supply and demand for childcare and ensuring that there are sufficient places available for working parents locally.

Whether a maintained nursery school (MNS) closes or not is a matter for local authorities, but they should have regard to statutory guidance when deciding to close one, which includes consultation with all those who have an interest. The department is in regular contact with local authorities and the MNS sector.

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 MNSs for the whole of the 2019/20 academic year. What happens after September 2020 will be determined by the next Spending Review, informed by research we have published on the services, costs and quality of MNSs: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/maintained-nursery-schools-contribution-to-early-years-provision.