Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 2.10 of Spending Round 2019 published on 4 September 2019, what the average hourly funding rate for delivering the Government's free hours offers (a) was in 2018-19 and (b) will be in 2019-20.

The average hourly funding rate for 3- and 4-year-olds was £4.75 in both 2018-19 and 2019-20 (provisional). The average rate can be calculated from dedicated school grant tables which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2018-to-2019.

and here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2019-to-2020.

The average rate can vary year on year as a result of the number of children taking up the funded hours. The average rate for 3- and 4-year-olds comprises the universal 15-hour entitlement and the additional 15-hour entitlement. It does not include the budget for early years pupil premium, disability access fund or supplementary funding.