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1077683

	registered interest
	date	26/02/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Day Care
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the article entitled UK free childcare funding woes forcing some providers out of business, published by the Financial Times on 28 April 2018, what assessment his Department has made of the accuracy of reports that the 30 hours’ free childcare for working parents of three and four year olds is underfunded; and what assessment he has made of the effect of the level of Government funding provided for that childcare on the fees charged by providers to parents of younger children.
	tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
	tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
	uin	226097
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2019 answer text <p>We will be spending around £6 billion on childcare support in 2019-20 - a record amount. That will include funding for our early education entitlements, on which we plan to spend around £3.5 billion this year alone.</p><p> </p><p>Local authorities receive funding from central government for delivering the free early years entitlements to 3 and 4 year olds through the dedicated schools grant. Our provisional allocations to local authorities for 2018-19 can be found here:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2018-to-2019" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2018-to-2019</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Local authorities are responsible for setting the funding rates for their early years providers in consultation with their schools forum. Data from local authority planned expenditure for 2018-19 is publicly available. The data, as reported by local authorities, is available at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/planned-la-and-school-expenditure-2018-to-2019-financial-year" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/planned-la-and-school-expenditure-2018-to-2019-financial-year</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The government recognises the need to keep the evidence base on costs and charges up to date. The mean hourly fee charged by providers in England in Spring 2018 was estimated to be £5.02 for children under age 2, £5.01 for children aged 2 and £4.92 for 3 and 4 year old preschool children. Details can be found at the following link:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2018</a>.</p><p> </p><p>We continue to monitor the provider market closely through a range of regular and one-off research projects which provide insight into various aspects of the provider market.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 226095 question first answered 04/03/2019 13:31:18 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

1063640

	registered interest
	date	18/02/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Pre-school Education: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to allocate further supplementary funding to maintained nursery schools after 2019-20.
	tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
	tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
	uin	222627
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/02/2019 answer text <p>Maintained nursery schools make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).</p><p>Maintained nursery schools experience costs over and above those of other early years providers. That is why we are providing local authorities with around £60 million a year in supplementary funding to enable them to protect maintained nursery schools’ funding.</p><p>This arrangement is due to end in March 2020, and what happens after that will be determined by the next Spending Review. Owing to uncertainty over the exact date of the Spending Review, we are considering how best to handle transitional arrangements for a number of areas, including maintained nursery schools.</p><p>Local funding decisions are a matter for the relevant local authority. We are clear that it would be premature for local authorities to make decisions about the future of their maintained nursery schools before the Spending Review outcomes are published.</p><p> </p><p>There is a presumption against the closure of maintained nursery schools. This does not mean that they will never close, but when they do, local authorities have a statutory requirement to ensure that alternative provision: is of at least equal quality; maintains expertise and specialism; and is more accessible and convenient for local parents.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 222629 222630 222631 222632 question first answered 21/02/2019 12:52:09 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

1063643

	registered interest
	date	18/02/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Pre-school Education: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has plans to allocate funding to the (a) reopening and (b) opening of maintained nursery schools.
	tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
	tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
	uin	222630
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/02/2019 answer text <p>Maintained nursery schools make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).</p><p>Maintained nursery schools experience costs over and above those of other early years providers. That is why we are providing local authorities with around £60 million a year in supplementary funding to enable them to protect maintained nursery schools’ funding.</p><p>This arrangement is due to end in March 2020, and what happens after that will be determined by the next Spending Review. Owing to uncertainty over the exact date of the Spending Review, we are considering how best to handle transitional arrangements for a number of areas, including maintained nursery schools.</p><p>Local funding decisions are a matter for the relevant local authority. We are clear that it would be premature for local authorities to make decisions about the future of their maintained nursery schools before the Spending Review outcomes are published.</p><p> </p><p>There is a presumption against the closure of maintained nursery schools. This does not mean that they will never close, but when they do, local authorities have a statutory requirement to ensure that alternative provision: is of at least equal quality; maintains expertise and specialism; and is more accessible and convenient for local parents.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 222627 222629 222631 222632 question first answered 21/02/2019 12:52:09 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

1063644

	registered interest
	date	18/02/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Pre-school Education: Closures
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an estimate of the cost to other public services in areas where maintained nursery schools have closed.
	tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
	tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
	uin	222631
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/02/2019 answer text <p>Maintained nursery schools make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).</p><p>Maintained nursery schools experience costs over and above those of other early years providers. That is why we are providing local authorities with around £60 million a year in supplementary funding to enable them to protect maintained nursery schools’ funding.</p><p>This arrangement is due to end in March 2020, and what happens after that will be determined by the next Spending Review. Owing to uncertainty over the exact date of the Spending Review, we are considering how best to handle transitional arrangements for a number of areas, including maintained nursery schools.</p><p>Local funding decisions are a matter for the relevant local authority. We are clear that it would be premature for local authorities to make decisions about the future of their maintained nursery schools before the Spending Review outcomes are published.</p><p> </p><p>There is a presumption against the closure of maintained nursery schools. This does not mean that they will never close, but when they do, local authorities have a statutory requirement to ensure that alternative provision: is of at least equal quality; maintains expertise and specialism; and is more accessible and convenient for local parents.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 222627 222629 222630 222632 question first answered 21/02/2019 12:52:09 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

1063646

	registered interest
	date	18/02/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Pre-school Education: Closures
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect on social mobility of the closure of maintained nursery schools.
	tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
	tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
	uin	222633
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/02/2019 answer text <p>Maintained nursery schools (MNS) make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children.</p><p>MNS experience costs over and above those of other early years providers. That is why we are providing local authorities with around £60 million a year in supplementary funding to enable them to protect MNS funding.</p><p>This arrangement is due to end in March 2020, and what happens after that will be determined by the next Spending Review. We are aware that the supplementary funding for MNS currently accounts for about a third of their budgets - owing to uncertainty over the exact date of the Spending Review, we are considering how best to handle transitional arrangements for a number of areas, including MNS.</p><p>This government has an ambition to halve the proportion of children who finish reception year without the early communication and reading skills they need to thrive. To support this we are investing over £100 million in our social mobility programme. This includes £20 million in high quality, evidence-based training and professional development for pre-reception early years staff in disadvantaged areas; £26 million in a network of English hubs; and £10 million to understand ‘what works’ in partnership with the Education Endowment Foundation.</p><p>This ambitious work is underpinned by our early education entitlements - where we are making record investment. This includes the entitlement to up to 15 hours of free early education for disadvantaged 2-year-olds. Since its introduction in 2013, over 700,000 2-year-olds have benefited and take-up has risen and is now 72%.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 222628 question first answered 26/02/2019 17:23:29 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

1064698

	registered interest
	date	21/02/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Day Care
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to (a) improve affordability and (b) reduce complexity for parents to access childcare support for people in low-income families.
	tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
	tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
	uin	224323
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/02/2019 answer text <p>The government provides significant support to help families with childcare affordability, including:</p><ul><li>15 hours of free childcare a week for all 3 and 4-year-olds, worth around £2,500 a year on average.</li><li>15 hours of free childcare a week for disadvantaged 2-year olds, i.e. all those families in receipt of Universal Credit (UC), with an annual net earned income equivalent to or less than £15,400; families in receipt of benefits that currently qualify them for free school meals; those receiving working tax credits (with an annual gross household income of no more than £16,190); and children entitled to certain benefits or support for a disability or special educational need, looked-after children and certain children who have been in care, including those who have been adopted.</li><li>30 hours of free childcare a week, for working parents of 3 and 4-year-olds. 30 hours is available to families where both parents are working (or the sole parent is working in a lone parent family), and each parent earns a weekly minimum equivalent to 16 hours at national minimum wage or living wage. This also includes self-employed parents.</li><li>Childcare vouchers provided through some employers, allowing parents to save money by paying for childcare from their pre-tax salary.</li><li>Help with up to 70% of childcare costs for people on low incomes through working tax credits, which in April 2016 increased to 85% through UC, subject to a monthly limit of £646 for one child or £1108 for 2 or more children.</li><li>Tax-free childcare, for which 1.5 million families who have childcare costs will be eligible. For every £8 parents pay into an online account, the government will pay £2 – up to a maximum contribution of £2,000 per child each year, for children aged under 12. Parents of disabled children will receive extra support (worth up to £4,000 per child, each year and until their child is 17).</li></ul><p>To reduce complexity, the government has introduced a childcare calculator, which parents can use to identify which of the childcare offers they may be entitled to. There is also the childcare choices and GOV.UK websites, which provides detailed information about all of the government’s childcare offers and how parents can apply. Local authorities also have a statutory duty to provide parents with information, advice and guidance on their websites about how these childcare offers can be accessed locally.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 26/02/2019 17:20:53 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

1077632

	registered interest
	date	26/02/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Day Care
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what records his Department holds on the socio-economic background of those claiming free childcare for three and four-year-olds.
	tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
	tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
	uin	226096
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2019 answer text <p>The number of 3 and 4 year old children benefitting from universal funded early education in receipt of early years pupil premium (EYPP) is published in table 20 of the 'Provision for children under 5 years of age' statistical release: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2018</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The EYPP gives childcare providers additional funding to support disadvantaged 3 and 4-year-old children. 3 and 4-year-olds will be eligible for EYPP if the child receives the universal 15 hours funded early education and their family are in receipt of specified benefits or the child is looked-after by a local authority or has left care.</p><p> </p><p>The number of 3 and 4 year old children benefitting from extended funded early education is published in table 3LA of the 'Provision for children under 5 years of age' statistical release: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2018</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Eligibility for the extended funded early education is based on parental income. The additional 15 hours is available to families where both parents are working (or the sole parent is working in a lone parent family), and each parent earns the equivalent of a weekly minimum of 16 hours at national minimum wage or national living wage, and less than £100,000 per year. This also includes self-employed parents and parents on zero-hour contracts. The government has made provisions to ensure that parents in certain circumstances will be regarded as being in work. This includes couple families where one parent is in receipt of benefits relating to caring responsibilities or their disability.</p><p> </p><p>The department also gathers information about the demographic characteristics of parents using childcare in the 'Childcare and early years survey of parents': <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-survey-of-parents-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-survey-of-parents-2018</a>.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 04/03/2019 16:36:02 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

1063641

	registered interest
	date	18/02/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Pre-school Education: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of maintained nursery schools that would close if they received no further funding guarantee for the period after 2020.
	tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
	tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
	uin	222628
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/02/2019 answer text <p>Maintained nursery schools (MNS) make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children.</p><p>MNS experience costs over and above those of other early years providers. That is why we are providing local authorities with around £60 million a year in supplementary funding to enable them to protect MNS funding.</p><p>This arrangement is due to end in March 2020, and what happens after that will be determined by the next Spending Review. We are aware that the supplementary funding for MNS currently accounts for about a third of their budgets - owing to uncertainty over the exact date of the Spending Review, we are considering how best to handle transitional arrangements for a number of areas, including MNS.</p><p>This government has an ambition to halve the proportion of children who finish reception year without the early communication and reading skills they need to thrive. To support this we are investing over £100 million in our social mobility programme. This includes £20 million in high quality, evidence-based training and professional development for pre-reception early years staff in disadvantaged areas; £26 million in a network of English hubs; and £10 million to understand ‘what works’ in partnership with the Education Endowment Foundation.</p><p>This ambitious work is underpinned by our early education entitlements - where we are making record investment. This includes the entitlement to up to 15 hours of free early education for disadvantaged 2-year-olds. Since its introduction in 2013, over 700,000 2-year-olds have benefited and take-up has risen and is now 72%.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 222633 question first answered 26/02/2019 17:23:29 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

1063642

	registered interest
	date	18/02/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Pre-school Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the reasons for the reduction in the number of maintained nursery schools since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
	tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
	uin	222629
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/02/2019 answer text <p>Maintained nursery schools make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).</p><p>Maintained nursery schools experience costs over and above those of other early years providers. That is why we are providing local authorities with around £60 million a year in supplementary funding to enable them to protect maintained nursery schools’ funding.</p><p>This arrangement is due to end in March 2020, and what happens after that will be determined by the next Spending Review. Owing to uncertainty over the exact date of the Spending Review, we are considering how best to handle transitional arrangements for a number of areas, including maintained nursery schools.</p><p>Local funding decisions are a matter for the relevant local authority. We are clear that it would be premature for local authorities to make decisions about the future of their maintained nursery schools before the Spending Review outcomes are published.</p><p> </p><p>There is a presumption against the closure of maintained nursery schools. This does not mean that they will never close, but when they do, local authorities have a statutory requirement to ensure that alternative provision: is of at least equal quality; maintains expertise and specialism; and is more accessible and convenient for local parents.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 222627 222630 222631 222632 question first answered 21/02/2019 12:52:09 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

1063645

	registered interest
	date	18/02/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Pre-school Education: Closures
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on children with SEND of the closure of maintained nursery schools as a result of a reduction in funding allocated to those schools.
	tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
	tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
	uin	222632
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/02/2019 answer text <p>Maintained nursery schools make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).</p><p>Maintained nursery schools experience costs over and above those of other early years providers. That is why we are providing local authorities with around £60 million a year in supplementary funding to enable them to protect maintained nursery schools’ funding.</p><p>This arrangement is due to end in March 2020, and what happens after that will be determined by the next Spending Review. Owing to uncertainty over the exact date of the Spending Review, we are considering how best to handle transitional arrangements for a number of areas, including maintained nursery schools.</p><p>Local funding decisions are a matter for the relevant local authority. We are clear that it would be premature for local authorities to make decisions about the future of their maintained nursery schools before the Spending Review outcomes are published.</p><p> </p><p>There is a presumption against the closure of maintained nursery schools. This does not mean that they will never close, but when they do, local authorities have a statutory requirement to ensure that alternative provision: is of at least equal quality; maintains expertise and specialism; and is more accessible and convenient for local parents.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 222627 222629 222630 222631 question first answered 21/02/2019 12:52:09 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson