Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the three and four year-old extended childcare entitlement pilot scheme in York.

Delivery of the 30 hours in York is going well, with over 1100 parents already accessing a place for their child. We also know that, of the providers previously delivering the current entitlements in York, 100% are signed up to deliver the 30 hours offer as part of early implementation. We will continue to engage with York City Council and providers to gather as much learning as possible ahead of September 2017, when the offer is rolled out across the country.

We have commissioned an independent evaluation of Early Implementation of the extended entitlement. This evaluation will focus on generating learning that can be used by Early Implementers and all local authorities ahead of national rollout in September 2017. There will be a national event in the spring to share learning, and a formal evaluation report will be published in the summer.

The Department has already demonstrated its commitment to evaluating the longer-term impact of free entitlement by publishing an evaluation feasibility study in February 2016, and gaining independent advice on the data and methods open to us.