Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will make an assessment of the potential correlation between the cost and availability of childcare provision and women’s incomes.

We are committed to improving the cost, choice, and availability of childcare. We continue to look at ways to make childcare more affordable and to encourage families to use government-funded support they are entitled to.

In assessing the impact of its free childcare entitlements, the department regularly reviews the impact on parents from a range of different research publications. This includes the Families and the Labour Market release (from the Office for National Statistics) and the Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents.

As part of the Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents, we also regularly ask parents about the effect that 30 hours free childcare has on families, including their ability to work. Almost 2 in 5 families using the 30 hours offer said that without the entitlement they would work fewer hours.