Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support nurseries in recruiting and retaining sufficient numbers of qualified staff; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the current availability of childcare staffing on the provision of early years education.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The early years workforce is at the heart of our mission to give every child the best start in life and deliver the Plan for Change. That is why we are supporting the sector to attract talented staff and childminders by creating conditions for improved recruitment, alongside programmes to better utilise the skills of the existing workforce and make early years careers as accessible as possible.
We are attracting new people into the early years sector through initiatives like our national recruitment campaign and financial incentives programmes. We are also ensuring there is a career path for everyone who wants to become an early years teacher, through increasing places on our existing teacher training programmes and introducing a new early years teacher degree apprenticeship route.
The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. No local authority is reporting sufficiency issues.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will commission an analysis of areas with the highest levels of prosecutions for truancy, to examine the contributing social, economic, and institutional factors, to help inform evidence-based policy responses.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department conducts analysis of data received via its Parental Responsibility Measures for Attendance data collection, which provides information on the national use of legal interventions to improve school attendance, including prosecutions, by local authority. We will continue to use the results of this data analysis to inform conversations with local authorities on addressing barriers to attendance, using a ’support first’ approach to pupils’ attendance. The department’s guidance is clear that prosecutions should only be used as a last resort, where all other routes have been exhausted or deemed inappropriate in the circumstances of the individual case.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has paid for followers on social media platforms it uses.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department has not paid for followers on its social media platforms.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what safeguards are in place to ensure that nurseries undertake adequate pre-employment checks to prevent people with a history of abusive behaviour from working with children; and what steps her Department is taking to help ensure ongoing monitoring and safeguarding compliance once staff are in post.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Safer recruitment is a core part of safeguarding in early years settings. The ‘Early Years Foundation Stage’ (EYFS) statutory framework requires providers to have clear and robust recruitment procedures in place to ensure that only suitable people work with children.
Since September 2025, the safeguarding and welfare requirements in the EYFS have been strengthened to clarify expectations, formalise best practice and improve consistency across the sector, including clearer requirements on safer recruitment, references, safeguarding training, paediatric first aid and whistleblowing.
Providers must obtain references for all staff, students and volunteers before recruitment. The EYFS sets out expectations when obtaining references including not relying on applicants to obtain their reference, references to be provided by a senior person with appropriate authority relating to recent and relevant employment, and to ensure any concerns must be resolved before appointment.
All staff must be subject to appropriate Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. Where checks are ongoing, individuals may only work under appropriate supervision and must never be left alone with children.
Safeguarding policies must set out safer recruitment procedures and be supported by effective induction, supervision, safeguarding training and whistleblowing arrangements to maintain a strong safeguarding culture.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of early years funding rates in helping to ensure the financial sustainability of pre-school and nursery settings.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government expects to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years entitlements in 2026/27, more than doubling annual public investment in the early years sector compared to 2023/24, as a result of successfully rolling-out the expansion of government-funded childcare for working parents.
In 2026/27, we are delivering an above-inflation increase on 2025/26 entitlements funding rates. This increase allows the national average funding rate to continue reflecting forecast cost pressures on the early years sector, including the National Living Wage announced at Autumn Budget 2025, and goes further, taking into account the wider workforce pressures felt by the sector since April 2025.
In December 2025, we announced above inflation national average increases of 4.95% to the 3 to 4-year-old hourly funding rate, a 4.36% increase to the 2-year-old hourly funding rate, and a 4.28% increase to the 9 month to 2-years-old hourly funding rate.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will take steps to help to minimise the potential impact on mothers who are prosecuted for their child’s truancy from school.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Absence is one of the biggest barriers to success for children and the government is committed to improving attendance through a support first approach.
The Working Together to Improve School Attendance statutory guidance sets out clear expectations for schools, trusts, local authorities to work collaboratively with families to identify and address the underlying reasons for non‑attendance, and put in place support. This guidance can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance.
Prosecution is a last resort, used only where support has been exhausted or not engaged with. In most instances, absences linked to illness, disability, mental health or special education needs should be authorised and not lead to prosecution. The decision to prosecute rests solely with the local authority, but paragraph 164 of the guidance sets out factors for their consideration, including public interest tests and equalities considerations.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her department has made of the potential impact on mothers who are prosecuted for their child’s truancy from school.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Absence is one of the biggest barriers to success for children and the government is committed to improving attendance through a support first approach.
The Working Together to Improve School Attendance statutory guidance sets out clear expectations for schools, trusts, local authorities to work collaboratively with families to identify and address the underlying reasons for non‑attendance, and put in place support. This guidance can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance.
Prosecution is a last resort, used only where support has been exhausted or not engaged with. In most instances, absences linked to illness, disability, mental health or special education needs should be authorised and not lead to prosecution. The decision to prosecute rests solely with the local authority, but paragraph 164 of the guidance sets out factors for their consideration, including public interest tests and equalities considerations.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how calculations of national funding rates by age group for nurseries are currently conducted.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department uses the early years national funding formulae (EYNFF) to distribute the early years entitlements budget to local authorities. The EYNFF determine local authority hourly funding rates by taking into consideration the different costs of delivering early years provision in different parts of the country.
The hourly funding rate for each entitlement varies to reflect the costs of delivering provision to different age groups. We know that the cost of delivery is highest for younger children due to higher staff costs, as staffing makes up the most significant proportion of provider costs.
Rates also vary between local authorities reflecting the different communities that local authorities serve. However, it is local authorities who are responsible for setting individual provider funding rates in consultation with their providers and schools forum, and fund providers using their own local funding formula.
The department will consult on changes to how early years funding is calculated and distributed, details of which will be published in 2026, to ensure funding is matched to need.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department has issued to further education providers on recognising participation in National Professional Qualification programmes as Continuing Professional Development; and whether staff are expected to undertake such training within paid working time.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) are part of a wider evidence-based national continuing professional development offer available to teachers and leaders throughout their career. They are designed for different types of leaders, from those in, or preparing to take up, formal leadership roles such as head teachers, to those taking on leadership responsibilities beyond their classroom. This includes leaders in the further education (FE) sector.
They are designed to be flexible and completed around existing commitments, with programme structure and delivery varying between providers.
The Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper committed to refocusing NPQs and associated funding to better support FE teachers and leaders, as part of establishing professional development pathways for FE staff.
Updated guidance on how to apply for the courses will be available when registration opens for the next cohort.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many early years pre-school settings have closed in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the last 12 months; and what steps the Government is taking to support the financial sustainability of early years providers.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Through our Best Start in Life strategy, we are focused on reforming the childcare system, delivering on our plan for change. We will act to increase affordability and accessibility, improve quality and ensure our workforce is valued and respected. This government continues to prioritise and protect investment in the early years, which is why we are investing over £1 billion more in the early years entitlements next year compared to 2025/26 to deliver a full year of the expanded entitlements, and an above inflation increase to entitlements funding rates.
It is important to continue to monitor the sufficiency of childcare places. While we do not retain data on settings closures, we continually monitor the sufficiency of childcare in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. The department has regular contact with them, and all other local authorities in England, about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. The 2025 Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers shows that England-wide early years places increased to 1,620,800 (+1%) between 2024 and 2025.