Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has used (a) UK and (b) international academic research on the workforce participation effect of childcare support programmes to inform its childcare policies.

In assessing the impact of its free childcare entitlements, the department regularly looks at evidence from a range of different research publications. This includes the Families and Labour Market release from the Office for National Statistics and the department’s Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents series, the latest results of which can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/childcare-and-early-years-survey-of-parents.

The department also monitors take-up of the entitlements via national statistics from the Early Years census, conducted in the third week of January each year. Further information can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-provision-children-under-5.

External evidence is used to help make international comparisons on the impacts of increasing employment rates, for example modelling that underpins the PwC Women in Work Index 2022. Further information can be accessed here: https://www.pwc.co.uk/services/economics/insights/women-in-work-index.html. This forms part of a wider evidence base, with caution taken when comparing childcare provision in different countries due to broader differences in school start date, funding models, and parental leave arrangements.

More specifically, the department carried out evaluations on both the early and full rollouts of our 30 hours free childcare entitlement to review its early impact. The evaluation of the early rollout is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/642007/Evaluation_of_early_rollout_of_30-hours_free_childcare.pdf. The evaluation of the first year of national delivery is also accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/30-hours-free-childcare-final-evaluation-of-the-national-rollout.

The department regularly asks parents about the effect that 30 hours free childcare has on their families, including on their ability to work. This is undertaken through the Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents.