Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the number of free childcare places in Bournemouth.

In 2025/26 alone, the government expects to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements, increasing to over £9 billion in 2026/27, and we have increased the early years pupil premium by over 45%. We have also provided further funding of £75 million for the early years expansion grant.

At the 2025 Spending Review, the government announced it will provide an additional £1.6 billion per year by 2028/29, compared to 2025/26, to continue the expansion of government-funded childcare for working parents, boosting children’s life chances and work choices for their parents. We will also spend over £400 million over the next four years to deliver school-based nurseries across England.

The key measure of sufficiency is whether the supply of available places is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents and children. We have regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action the local authority is taking and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.