Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 24 of the Social Mobility Commission's report, Time for Change: an assessment of government policies on social mobility 1997-2017, published on 28 June 2017, what steps she is taking to ensure the provision of quality childcare places when the free childcare entitlement increases to 30 hours per week.

The government is fully committed to delivering flexible and high quality childcare which meets the needs of working parents and supports the best outcomes for children. That is why all providers offering the extended funded entitlement will have to be registered with Ofsted and follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework.

We have set out in statutory guidance that, as far as possible, funded places should be delivered by providers who have achieved an overall rating of ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ in their most recent Ofsted inspection report. As the Social Mobility Commission report notes, the proportion of providers rated “outstanding” or “good” has risen steadily and the latest figures from Ofsted show that 93% of providers had achieved these top ratings as at 31 March 2017, giving a good supply of eligible providers.