Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to extend funding for maintained nursery schools beyond the two years indicated in the consultation on the Early Years National Funding Formula, published in August 2016.

Maintained nursery schools make a very important contribution to social mobility. That is why, as we introduce new funding arrangements in the early years, we are providing local authorities with supplementary funding of £55m a year for maintained nursery schools for at least two years. This will provide stability by maintaining their current funding, and is part of our record investment in childcare – £6 billion per year by 2020.

We will say more about the funding of maintained nursery schools later in the autumn in our response to the consultation on an Early Years National Funding Formula. And we will consult the sector on the future of maintained nursery schools in further detail, including on what happens after this two year period, in due course.