Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 149 of her Department's consultation on an early years national funding formula, published in August 2016, how much supplementary funding each local authority will receive for maintained nursery schools in each of the next two years; and whether that funding will be ring-fenced.

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.