Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the (a) likely level of uptake for the extra 15 hour a week childcare provided for under the Childcare Act 2016 and (b) number of people eligible for that extra childcare under the provisions of that Act.

The Government estimates that around 390,000 three- and four-year-olds will be eligible for the additional 15 hours of free childcare, and we expect that the majority of parents with eligible children will want to take up this generous offer. During our 2015 consultation, we conducted an online survey and of nearly 20,000 respondents, around 89% said they would take up the additional hours if they were available now.