Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of how many primary schools have spare capacity to accommodate three and four year-old children of parents entitled to the new 30 hours free childcare allowance.
Answered by Lord Nash
Primary schools are an important provider of places for the current funded entitlement of 15 hours, with almost 297,000 three and four-year-olds benefiting from funded early education places in primary schools in January 2014. This is 94% all of three-year-olds and 99% of all four-year-olds. Schools have a track record of creating capacity by re-arranging their existing nursery provision, as we have seen where they have expanded their nurseries or worked in partnership with other providers, including for the delivery of funded two-year-old places.
The decision whether or not to make these sorts of changes is a choice for schools to make, but we would encourage them to consider establishing or expanding nursery provision, either directly by the school or in partnership with a third party. We will be working closely with schools and other providers to understand more about their capacity and what approaches might work best in their setting.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they intend to publish the draft regulations to be made under the Childcare Bill [HL].
Answered by Lord Nash
Following Second Reading of the Childcare Bill on 16 June 2015, I have written to colleagues responding to points raised in the debate. This included the government’s consideration of the impact of the Childcare Bill provisions on child poverty, the Public Sector Equality Duty, the government’s Family Test, the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. A full economic impact assessment will be published when draft regulations are published for public consultation in due course.
The government has also made a policy statement available to the House of Lords, setting out further details on the government’s intention behind the legislation and to aid Peers in their scrutiny of the Bill ahead of Committee Stage.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when an Impact Assessment for the Childcare Bill [HL] will be published.
Answered by Lord Nash
Following Second Reading of the Childcare Bill on 16 June 2015, I have written to colleagues responding to points raised in the debate. This included the government’s consideration of the impact of the Childcare Bill provisions on child poverty, the Public Sector Equality Duty, the government’s Family Test, the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. A full economic impact assessment will be published when draft regulations are published for public consultation in due course.
The government has also made a policy statement available to the House of Lords, setting out further details on the government’s intention behind the legislation and to aid Peers in their scrutiny of the Bill ahead of Committee Stage.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many families they estimate will benefit from the proposed provision of 30 hours free childcare contained in the Childcare Bill [HL].
Answered by Lord Nash
Currently around 600,000 families in England have three or four year old children with both parents in work. This number will change over time according to employment choices and population fluctuation. The number of families taking up the extended entitlement will depend on a number of variables including parental choices and how many four year olds will be in reception classes at school.