Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many nursery places were available in York in September 2019; and what estimate he has made of the number of nursery place available in York in September 2021.

To help understand the impact of COVID-19 on the early years (EY) sector, from 6 April 2020, the Department of Education asked local authorities to regularly report to the department information on the number of children in attendance, including the number of settings open or closed. The last collection of summer term was on the 16 July 2021. For Autumn term this data will be collected on a monthly basis with the first data collection being on Thursday 16 September 2021. The department will use this data to work with the EY team in York to address any emerging sufficiency issues including children affected by a lack of place.

The linked table shows the number of registered childcare providers and places in York local authority as at 31 March 2021. The data as at 31 August 2021 is not available until November 2021: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/996094/Childcare_providers_and_inspections_charts_and_tables_31_March_2021.xlsx.

The most recently published results (wave 3) of the ‘Survey of childcare and early years providers and coronavirus’, published in March this year, set out that 98% of school-based providers, 96% of group-based providers, and 89% of childminders reported being open at the time of the survey being taken. This data is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/survey-of-childcare-and-early-years-providers-and-coronavirus-covid-19-wave-3.

We have not seen a significant number of parents unable to secure a childcare place in any part of England, in the summer term, during the most recent lockdown in the spring term, or since early years settings re-opened fully on 1 June 2020. Where parents have been unable to temporarily secure a childcare place, for example due to their usual setting being temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, this has been quickly resolved locally, and local authorities are not reporting sufficiency of supply issues. The next Ofsted statistical release on the number of childcare places is due to be published in November 2021.

We continue to work with the early years sector and officials from the department regularly speak with York City Council’s EY team to understand how they can best be supported to ensure that sufficient safe, appropriate and affordable childcare is available for those who need it now, and for all families who need it in the longer term.

Department officials have a scheduled call with the EY teams in all local authorities every 6-8 weeks where sufficiency of childcare places is discussed alongside a wider exchange of information on the delivery of early education entitlements. Local authorities are also encouraged to liaise with their Department for Education regional lead official as soon as possible if sufficiency issues were to arise. From the latest information we have from discussions with York, there are no immediate or emerging sufficiency issues in the local authority area.