Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what actions they are taking to ensure their targets for additional childcare provision are met for September 2024 and September 2025, given the National Audit Office report into early years entitlements published on 24 April.

This government exceeded expectations for the first stage of the rollout to working parents of two year olds in April, with over 210,000 children accessing funded places to date, and all local authorities confirming that they are able to meet parental demand.

The department is confident that parental demand will be met for the next steps of the rollout, as it was in April.

The department has a number of interventions in place to support local authorities to deliver for September 2024 and September 2025, including £12 million delivery support funding and support through the department’s delivery support contractor, Childcare Works.

The department is also taking action to support the childcare market to expand to meet estimated demand from September 2024 and September 2025. This includes significantly increasing rates paid to providers for government funded hours and confirming an additional £500 million to provide certainty that rates will increase in line with cost pressures in the 2025/26 and 2026/27 financial years. The department has also launched a nationwide recruitment campaign, introduced a package of flexibilities to help manage staffing pressures, and allocated £100 million of capital investment to increase physical space in nurseries and other childcare settings.