Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many council-maintained nursery places for three and four-year-olds there have been in the London Borough of Southwark in each of the last seven years; and how many local authority maintained nursery places will be available for three and four-year-olds in the London Borough of Southwark under her Department's new early years national funding formula in each of the next three years.

The department does not hold data on the number of council-maintained nursery places for three and four-year-olds there have been in the London Borough of Southwark in each of the last seven years.

The department does have data showing the number of three and four-year-olds in Southwark taking up their entitlement to funded early learning in a nursery as recorded in January 2017 is available in table 2LA in the main tables at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2017.

The data from 2010 to 2016 can be found in the Provision for children under 5 years of age in England tables at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-childcare-and-early-years.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide the required number of places to meet parental demand for the free entitlements for two, three and four-year-olds. Local authorities will be working with providers to ensure that there are enough places to meet parental demand in the next three years.