Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to help families access childcare.

This government is committed to making childcare more affordable and more accessible. We plan to spend around £3.5 billion on our early education entitlements this year alone – more than any previous government. All 3 and 4-year olds and the most disadvantaged 2-year olds can access 15 hours a week of early education. From September 2017, this government doubled the childcare entitlement for eligible working parents of 3 and 4-year olds to 30 hours a week.

We want 30 hours to continue to build on the flexible provision that we were already seeing across the country with the universal 15 hours. All the free entitlements can be “stretched” by taking fewer hours per week over up to 52 weeks of the year to cover term-time and the school holidays and free places can be delivered at weekends.

Parents can find out information about all the government childcare offers on the Childcare Choices website and use the Childcare Calculator to help them understand what childcare support they are eligible for.