Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the expansion of school-based nurseries will contribute to increasing access to funded childcare, particularly in areas with limited provision.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
High quality early years is central to our mission to break down the barriers to opportunity, give every child the best possible start in life and is essential to our Plan for Change. This government is boosting availability and access through the school-based nurseries programme, supporting school led provision and private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers and childminders operating from school sites.
Phase 1 is already delivering results, with £37 million successfully awarded to 300 primary phase schools creating up to 6,000 new childcare places. Schools reported that over 5,000 of these places were available from September 2025, helping thousands of families across the country.
The programme secured almost £370 million for future phases. Phase 2, which closed on 11 December, has an increased focus on supporting families from disadvantaged areas which have less access to childcare, and will deliver at least 300 new or expanded nurseries through a £45 million fund. Successful schools will be announced in due course.
Phase 3 is due to launch in early 2026, focussing on local authorities’ long-term strategic needs for their local communities.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data the Department holds on the expected changes in childcare demand in Northumberland associated with childcare measures in the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is the government’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.
As part of the Child Poverty Strategy, the government will provide Universal Credit childcare support to help with the childcare costs for all children instead of limiting this to two children, supporting parents who have larger families into work
The Strategy sets out how we intend to monitor and evaluate the impacts of the strategy, including understanding how this varies across the UK and for different groups.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data the Department holds on the expected changes in childcare demand in Hexham constituency associated with childcare measures in the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is the government’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.
As part of the Child Poverty Strategy, the government will provide Universal Credit childcare support to help with the childcare costs for all children instead of limiting this to two children, supporting parents who have larger families into work
The Strategy sets out how we intend to monitor and evaluate the impacts of the strategy, including understanding how this varies across the UK and for different groups.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data the Department holds on the expected changes in childcare demand in the North East associated with childcare measures in the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is the government’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.
As part of the Child Poverty Strategy, the government will provide Universal Credit childcare support to help with the childcare costs for all children instead of limiting this to two children, supporting parents who have larger families into work
The Strategy sets out how we intend to monitor and evaluate the impacts of the strategy, including understanding how this varies across the UK and for different groups.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions the Department has had with relevant stakeholders in Northumberland to ensure parents have accessible information regarding the available safeguarding for extracurricular activities.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to safeguarding children across all education settings, including extracurricular providers outside the statutory education and childcare system, referred to as out-of-school settings (OOSS). Local authorities are legally responsible for safeguarding and promoting the welfare all children in their area, regardless of the education setting they attend.
All OOSS have a legal duty of care to ensure the safety of children attending their settings. The department has published guidance for:
The ‘Early education and childcare’ guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-education-and-childcare--2/early-education-and-childcare-effective-from-1-april-2025, and applies to:
Whilst the department believes most out-of-school settings offer enriching education in a safe environment, we want this to be true for all. That is why the government held a call for evidence regarding sector safeguarding practices and invited views on approaches for further strengthening safeguarding, including potential regulation. This closed on 21 September and analysis is ongoing. We will respond in due course.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions the Department has had with relevant stakeholders in the Hexham constituency to ensure parents have accessible information regarding the available safeguarding for extracurricular activities.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to safeguarding children across all education settings, including extracurricular providers outside the statutory education and childcare system, referred to as out-of-school settings (OOSS). Local authorities are legally responsible for safeguarding and promoting the welfare all children in their area, regardless of the education setting they attend.
All OOSS have a legal duty of care to ensure the safety of children attending their settings. The department has published guidance for:
The ‘Early education and childcare’ guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-education-and-childcare--2/early-education-and-childcare-effective-from-1-april-2025, and applies to:
Whilst the department believes most out-of-school settings offer enriching education in a safe environment, we want this to be true for all. That is why the government held a call for evidence regarding sector safeguarding practices and invited views on approaches for further strengthening safeguarding, including potential regulation. This closed on 21 September and analysis is ongoing. We will respond in due course.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions the Department has had with relevant stakeholders in the North East to ensure parents have accessible information regarding the available safeguarding for extracurricular activities.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to safeguarding children across all education settings, including extracurricular providers outside the statutory education and childcare system, referred to as out-of-school settings (OOSS). Local authorities are legally responsible for safeguarding and promoting the welfare all children in their area, regardless of the education setting they attend.
All OOSS have a legal duty of care to ensure the safety of children attending their settings. The department has published guidance for:
The ‘Early education and childcare’ guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-education-and-childcare--2/early-education-and-childcare-effective-from-1-april-2025, and applies to:
Whilst the department believes most out-of-school settings offer enriching education in a safe environment, we want this to be true for all. That is why the government held a call for evidence regarding sector safeguarding practices and invited views on approaches for further strengthening safeguarding, including potential regulation. This closed on 21 September and analysis is ongoing. We will respond in due course.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of early years SEND support capacity in North East Lincolnshire; and what support her Department is providing to ensure early identification and intervention for children aged under five.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
We aim to set up every child, in every local authority, to have the best start in life and this includes delivering access to high quality early education and childcare for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
On 7 July, we published our commitment to Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life. This means a stronger focus on early identification, inclusive access to early years education, and tailored family support. We also will increase the funding available to early years providers to support children with SEND.
On 4 December, we announced access to early SEND support across the country through Best Start Family Hubs. In every local authority next year, councils are being tasked with recruiting a dedicated SEND practitioner for every Hub to provide direct, family-facing support. The new offer will help parents understand their child’s development, identify emerging needs sooner, and support vital join-up between early years settings, health visitors and SEND teams.
We have also invested in the Early Language Support for Every Child (ELSEC) programme, and the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) supporting children in the early years with their speech and language.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to (a) affordable and (b) flexible childcare provision through childminders in (i) Surrey and (ii) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is our ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.
The department has implemented new flexibilities for childminders that will help them to join and stay in the profession, giving them the flexibility to work with more people and spend more time working from non-domestic premises if they prefer.
Childminders can contribute to the delivery of the expanded entitlements and may also benefit from an expected increase in demand for places. While we do not retain constituency level data, the hourly funding rates for Surrey are £12.89, £9.01 and £6.25 for children under two years old, aged two, and aged three to four respectively. We will work with local authorities and others to ensure that childminders and other early years providers are paid monthly for the funded hours they provide, making their income more stable. We will also keep working with Jobcentre Plus to encourage more people to become childminders.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to provide long-term funding arrangements for the Nursery Milk Scheme and the School Milk Subsidy Scheme to ensure continuity of provision for early years and primary education settings.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Nursery Milk Scheme is operated by the Department of Health and Social Care and provides reimbursement to early years childcare settings to cover the cost of providing one-third of a pint of milk per day to all children under the age of five years old who attend the setting for more than two hours per day. The School Milk Subsidy Scheme is the responsibility of the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs and partly finances the cost of similar milk provision to children in primary and secondary schools in England and Wales. There are no current plans to change these schemes.