Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Ofsted Official Statistics Main findings: childcare providers and inspections as at 31 March 2022, published 29 June 2022, whether he has made an assessment of the resilience of remaining providers of childcare to parents in Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough constituency; and if he will make a statement.

The department continues to monitor the sufficiency of childcare. The key measure of sufficiency is whether the supply of available places is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents and children, and Ofsted data currently shows that the number of places offered by providers on the Early Years Register has remained broadly stable since August 2015.

The department also discusses sufficiency of provision in regular conversations with local authorities.

Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. At present, Sheffield local authority are reporting they are fulfilling their duty.