Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the level of demand for the 30 hours of free childcare scheme in (a) the 12 early delivery areas and (b) England in September 2017.

Demand in the 12 early delivery areas has been high, with around 15,000 places currently allocated. The recently published early implementation evaluation report suggests providers are willing and able to offer places and parents are keen to take-up. The full report is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/30-hours-free-childcare-early-implementation-evaluation.

As of 18 July, successful parent applications have generated 145,463 valid 30 hours eligibility codes through the service. On average, we are currently receiving over 2,000 30 hours applications a day, and if we continue on this trajectory, we would hit over 200,000 codes generated by the end of August. Local authorities are working closely with their providers to ensure these parents are able to access a place for full rollout.