Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent representations she has received from childcare providers on funding concerns relating to the Government's commitment to offer three and four-year-olds 30 free hours of childcare.

The Government published the consultation ‘Early years funding: changes to funding for 3- and 4-year-olds’ on 11 August 2016 (https://consult.education.gov.uk/early-years-funding/eynff/consult_view). The consultation has now closed and we have received 3,121 responses. Of these, 64% identified themselves as childcare providers or practitioners and 22% as representing the maintained sector. The Government’s response to the consultation is planned for later this autumn.