Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the Government's £750m funding for charities is allocated to early years charities; and how is it being made available to those charities.

We are unable to say at this point what proportion of the government’s £750 million funding has been specifically allocated to early years charities. A range of government and other third sector support is available. The details are published on GOV.UK by the Office for Civil Society and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media. This includes the £200 million funding from the National Lottery COVID-19 Community Fund, which is available for small and medium sized charities in England to bid to continue their vital work supporting the country during the COVID-19 outbreak. More details are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/financial-support-for-voluntary-community-and-social-enterprise-vcse-organisations-to-respond-to-coronavirus-covid-19.

As part of the funding package announced on 8 April, the Department for Education received a total of £26.4 million awarded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. This includes funding to enable our early years voluntary and community sector partners to broaden their reach and to provide additional support for disadvantaged and vulnerable children’s development. The early years charities will work collaboratively to improve signposting to advice, information and targeted support, including, for example, through £7 million ‘See, Hear, Respond service’ launched by the government on 5 June 2020. A coalition of charities led by Barnardo’s will work together to support those at most risk of harm, including in the early years. The funding allocations will be subject to Department for Education approval, assurance and due diligence processes.

In addition, voluntary providers deliver around 18% of childcare places. The government is planning to spend over £3.6 billion on early education entitlements in 2020-21. Further information is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/use-of-free-early-education-entitlements-funding-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.