Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeship starts there have been among young people aged (a) under 19 and (b) 19 to 24, by level, for each academic year since 2018-19.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

The following link sets out the apprenticeship starts by under 19s, including those aged between 19 to 24: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/04dbd954-342d-4fa1-2d37-08dc5ed9bc49

Further information on apprenticeship starts can be found in the apprenticeships publication, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish her Department's results in the civil service people survey questions on leadership and managing change for each of the last 14 years.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The department’s results for each of the questions in the Civil Service People Survey relating to leadership and managing change are published online:

• Results from 2010 to 2018 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-education-people-survey-results.
• Results from 2019 to 2023 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/civil-service-people-surveys.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 22 April 2022 to Question 151074 on Department for Education: Parking, if she will take steps to update and publish the data relating to her Department and arm's length bodies in that table.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The attached table includes data to support the response relating to the department and arm’s length bodies.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the website for her Department's consultation entitled Experience-Based Route for Early Years Practitioners, launched on 22 April 2024, was (a) designed, (b) supplied and (c) assured by the Government Digital Service.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The consultation entitled ‘Experience-Based Route for Early Years Practitioners’ is being held on Citizen Space. The website was not designed, supplied or assured by the Government Digital Service. The site complies with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.2 AA standard.

If, for exceptional reasons, a person is unable to use the online system, they may request and complete a word document version of the form by email or by post.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National Audit Office's value for money report entitled Preparations to extend early years entitlements for working parents in England on the expansion of government funded childcare, published on 24 April 2024, which local authorities she estimates will need to increase their childcare hours by 20% or more by September 2025.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

As the National Audit Office (NAO) recently reported, the department has developed a model to estimate supply and demand nationally and locally. This allows the department to estimate the required increases in early years hours to meet demand for key delivery milestones.

The regional differences are illustrated in Figure 11 of the NAO report. Further detail of this analysis has not been published. It has been shared directly with local authorities to use alongside their local intelligence and support local sufficiency assessments.

The supply and demand model is updated regularly with the latest data, including as more parents apply for eligibility codes and the department has an improved understanding of local demand.

The indicative output of this supply and demand modelling is only one factor the department takes into account when judging the scale of the challenge a local authority faces. The department also accounts for the local authorities own assessment of supply and demand and their responses to the departments readiness assessments.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National Audit Office's value for money report entitled Preparations to extend early years entitlements for working parents in England on the expansion of government funded childcare, published on 24 April 2024, what steps she is taking to track the number of childcare staff required in each region for the expansion in 30-hours funded childcare, in addition to her Department’s national level projection.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England to discuss the rollout of the expanded entitlements and the sufficiency of childcare. This includes understanding whether early years workforce recruitment and retention in each local authority is sufficient to meet the demand for new places.

Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and where needed provide support to the local authority with any specific requirements through the department’s childcare sufficiency support contract.

Additionally, the department collects information on the childcare workforce through the Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers and regular pulse surveys. The Childcare and Early Years Providers survey is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2023, and the pulse survey is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-impact-of-childcare-reforms-on-childcare-and-early-years-providers.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to para 3.11 of the National Audit Office's value for money report entitled Preparations to extend early years entitlements for working parents in England on the expansion of government funded childcare, published on 24 April 2024, what indicators she plans to use to track progress of the childcare roll-out; and what criteria would need to be met for her Department to change its assessment of the likelihood of meeting the September (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 phases of the roll-out.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Key Performance Indicators will be used to measure delivery performance against a range of objectives including:

• More families accessing government funded childcare and an increase in the numbers of staff and places in the sector.

In the lead up to the April 2024 delivery milestone the department saw these indicators improve, with over 200,000 children finding places and no reports of insufficiency from local authorities. The department would expect to see a similar results in the lead up to September 2024 and September 2025.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 2.8 of the Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, whether trends in the level of (a) wage growth, (b) inflation and (c) National Living Wage rises were used to calculate the hourly rate paid to childcare providers to deliver free hours childcare for children aged nine months to four years.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Spring Budget 2024 announcement confirms how the department will uplift costs in the 2025/26 and 2026/27 financial years. The department will use average earnings growth and National Living Wage (NLW) to forecast how staff costs are changing for providers and Consumer Price Index (a general measure of inflation) to forecast how non-staff costs will change. This is the same metric that was used at Spring Budget 2023 and as such, levels of inflation and the NLW were taken into account when calculating the funding rates paid by the department to local authorities for all of the entitlements in the financial year 2024/25.

The department’s methodology and the uplift to the rates are informed by data it receives from providers and parents to ensure it meets the pressures faced by the sector. The department regularly surveys a nationally representative sample of over 9,000 providers to gain insights into how they run their provision and the challenges they face. The department also regularly surveys over 6,000 parents to understand their usage of childcare.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 2.8 of the Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, what metric was used to calculate the hourly rate childcare providers are paid to deliver free hours childcare for children aged nine months to four years.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Spring Budget 2024 announcement confirms how the department will uplift costs in the 2025/26 and 2026/27 financial years. The department will use average earnings growth and National Living Wage (NLW) to forecast how staff costs are changing for providers and Consumer Price Index (a general measure of inflation) to forecast how non-staff costs will change. This is the same metric that was used at Spring Budget 2023 and as such, levels of inflation and the NLW were taken into account when calculating the funding rates paid by the department to local authorities for all of the entitlements in the financial year 2024/25.

The department’s methodology and the uplift to the rates are informed by data it receives from providers and parents to ensure it meets the pressures faced by the sector. The department regularly surveys a nationally representative sample of over 9,000 providers to gain insights into how they run their provision and the challenges they face. The department also regularly surveys over 6,000 parents to understand their usage of childcare.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National Audit Office's report entitled Preparations to extend early years entitlements for working parents in England, published on 24 April 2024, what steps she is taking to increase the number of childcare providers operating in areas of deprivation.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

In 2010 there was only 12.5 hours of childcare support for some families with 3 and 4-year-olds. This government has already significantly expanded that support, to 30 hours free childcare for working parents of 3 and 4-year-olds.

The department is now going further, making the largest investment in childcare in England’s history.

The rates for the new entitlements have been independently confirmed by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) to be well above market rates. The department is investing hundreds of millions of pounds to increase hourly funding rates and has allocated £100 million in capital funding for more early years (EY) and wrapround places and spaces.

The department has also launched a range of new workforce initiatives to boost EY staff numbers. The department’s recruitment campaign ‘Do something BIG. Work with small children’ is backed by £6.5 million and is raising the status of EY to boost the recruitment of talented staff.

On top of this, in order to further boost the workforce, the department has invited 20 local authorities to take part in a £4.9 million pilot to test whether financial incentives in EY would help boost recruitment in the same way it has for teachers. Up to 3,000 eligible joiners and returners to the workforce will receive a £1,000 tax-free cash payment, shortly after they take up the post. This is as well as an investment of £7.2 million to deliver Skills Bootcamps for Early Years which enables learners to progress on an accelerated Level 3 Early Years Apprenticeship. This builds on previous growth in the market. The total number of paid childcare staff increased by 12,900 (or 4%) from 334,400 in 2022 to 347,300 in 2023, and the overall number of places increased by 15,100 (or 1%) over the same period.

It is important to note that Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about the sufficiency of childcare in their area including their work to support the EY workforce recruitment and retention. No local authorities have reported to the department that they do not have sufficient childcare places.

The department continues to monitor the recruitment of EY staff alongside the sufficiency of childcare provision and are committed to continuing to work with the sector understand how it can further support EY workforce recruitment and retention.

The department already has significant support in place for disadvantaged families.

In addition to the expanded entitlements, the government has also taken action to support parents on Universal Credit with childcare costs upfront when they need it, rather than in arrears. The department has increased support for these parents by increasing the childcare cost maximum amounts to £950 for one child and £1629 for two children.

The department already funds 15 hours of free early education a week for disadvantaged 2-year-olds and children with an education, health and care plan or a Statement of Special Educational Needs.

Over 1.2 million disadvantaged 2-year-olds have benefitted from 15 hours early education and care entitlement since the entitlement began in September 2013. 74%, or 124,200, of eligible children were taking up the 2-year-old entitlement for the most disadvantaged children, which is an increase in the take up rates from 72%, or 135,400, in January 2022.

The department also supports the most disadvantaged by investing in high quality early education, family hubs and local services, and by helping parents to support their child’s early language development at home.

It is important that local authorities reflect deprivation within their local funding approach. To support this, we have introduced a requirement for local authorities to ensure that the final funding rate they pay to providers for the disadvantaged 2-year-old entitlement is at least equivalent to the final rate for the 2-year-old working parent entitlement.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National Audit Office's report entitled Preparations to extend early years entitlements for working parents in England, published on 24 April 2024, what steps she is taking to increase the number of childcare places in areas of deprivation.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

In 2010 there was only 12.5 hours of childcare support for some families with 3 and 4-year-olds. This government has already significantly expanded that support, to 30 hours free childcare for working parents of 3 and 4-year-olds.

The department is now going further, making the largest investment in childcare in England’s history.

The rates for the new entitlements have been independently confirmed by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) to be well above market rates. The department is investing hundreds of millions of pounds to increase hourly funding rates and has allocated £100 million in capital funding for more early years (EY) and wrapround places and spaces.

The department has also launched a range of new workforce initiatives to boost EY staff numbers. The department’s recruitment campaign ‘Do something BIG. Work with small children’ is backed by £6.5 million and is raising the status of EY to boost the recruitment of talented staff.

On top of this, in order to further boost the workforce, the department has invited 20 local authorities to take part in a £4.9 million pilot to test whether financial incentives in EY would help boost recruitment in the same way it has for teachers. Up to 3,000 eligible joiners and returners to the workforce will receive a £1,000 tax-free cash payment, shortly after they take up the post. This is as well as an investment of £7.2 million to deliver Skills Bootcamps for Early Years which enables learners to progress on an accelerated Level 3 Early Years Apprenticeship. This builds on previous growth in the market. The total number of paid childcare staff increased by 12,900 (or 4%) from 334,400 in 2022 to 347,300 in 2023, and the overall number of places increased by 15,100 (or 1%) over the same period.

It is important to note that Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about the sufficiency of childcare in their area including their work to support the EY workforce recruitment and retention. No local authorities have reported to the department that they do not have sufficient childcare places.

The department continues to monitor the recruitment of EY staff alongside the sufficiency of childcare provision and are committed to continuing to work with the sector understand how it can further support EY workforce recruitment and retention.

The department already has significant support in place for disadvantaged families.

In addition to the expanded entitlements, the government has also taken action to support parents on Universal Credit with childcare costs upfront when they need it, rather than in arrears. The department has increased support for these parents by increasing the childcare cost maximum amounts to £950 for one child and £1629 for two children.

The department already funds 15 hours of free early education a week for disadvantaged 2-year-olds and children with an education, health and care plan or a Statement of Special Educational Needs.

Over 1.2 million disadvantaged 2-year-olds have benefitted from 15 hours early education and care entitlement since the entitlement began in September 2013. 74%, or 124,200, of eligible children were taking up the 2-year-old entitlement for the most disadvantaged children, which is an increase in the take up rates from 72%, or 135,400, in January 2022.

The department also supports the most disadvantaged by investing in high quality early education, family hubs and local services, and by helping parents to support their child’s early language development at home.

It is important that local authorities reflect deprivation within their local funding approach. To support this, we have introduced a requirement for local authorities to ensure that the final funding rate they pay to providers for the disadvantaged 2-year-old entitlement is at least equivalent to the final rate for the 2-year-old working parent entitlement.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National Audit Office's report entitled Preparations to extend early years entitlements for working parents in England, published on 24 April 2024, what steps she is taking to deliver the additional childcare places needed.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

In 2010 there was only 12.5 hours of childcare support for some families with 3 and 4-year-olds. This government has already significantly expanded that support, to 30 hours free childcare for working parents of 3 and 4-year-olds.

The department is now going further, making the largest investment in childcare in England’s history.

The rates for the new entitlements have been independently confirmed by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) to be well above market rates. The department is investing hundreds of millions of pounds to increase hourly funding rates and has allocated £100 million in capital funding for more early years (EY) and wrapround places and spaces.

The department has also launched a range of new workforce initiatives to boost EY staff numbers. The department’s recruitment campaign ‘Do something BIG. Work with small children’ is backed by £6.5 million and is raising the status of EY to boost the recruitment of talented staff.

On top of this, in order to further boost the workforce, the department has invited 20 local authorities to take part in a £4.9 million pilot to test whether financial incentives in EY would help boost recruitment in the same way it has for teachers. Up to 3,000 eligible joiners and returners to the workforce will receive a £1,000 tax-free cash payment, shortly after they take up the post. This is as well as an investment of £7.2 million to deliver Skills Bootcamps for Early Years which enables learners to progress on an accelerated Level 3 Early Years Apprenticeship. This builds on previous growth in the market. The total number of paid childcare staff increased by 12,900 (or 4%) from 334,400 in 2022 to 347,300 in 2023, and the overall number of places increased by 15,100 (or 1%) over the same period.

It is important to note that Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about the sufficiency of childcare in their area including their work to support the EY workforce recruitment and retention. No local authorities have reported to the department that they do not have sufficient childcare places.

The department continues to monitor the recruitment of EY staff alongside the sufficiency of childcare provision and are committed to continuing to work with the sector understand how it can further support EY workforce recruitment and retention.

The department already has significant support in place for disadvantaged families.

In addition to the expanded entitlements, the government has also taken action to support parents on Universal Credit with childcare costs upfront when they need it, rather than in arrears. The department has increased support for these parents by increasing the childcare cost maximum amounts to £950 for one child and £1629 for two children.

The department already funds 15 hours of free early education a week for disadvantaged 2-year-olds and children with an education, health and care plan or a Statement of Special Educational Needs.

Over 1.2 million disadvantaged 2-year-olds have benefitted from 15 hours early education and care entitlement since the entitlement began in September 2013. 74%, or 124,200, of eligible children were taking up the 2-year-old entitlement for the most disadvantaged children, which is an increase in the take up rates from 72%, or 135,400, in January 2022.

The department also supports the most disadvantaged by investing in high quality early education, family hubs and local services, and by helping parents to support their child’s early language development at home.

It is important that local authorities reflect deprivation within their local funding approach. To support this, we have introduced a requirement for local authorities to ensure that the final funding rate they pay to providers for the disadvantaged 2-year-old entitlement is at least equivalent to the final rate for the 2-year-old working parent entitlement.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the likely proportionate change in childcare providers that are (a) private, (b) voluntary and (c) independent providers by September (i) 2024 and (ii) 2025.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The number of private, voluntary and independent providers that are registered on the Early Years Register as of 31 March 2023 was 22,691.

The latest available data for December 2023 shows that the number of private, voluntary and independent providers that are registered on the Early Years Register was 22,490, which is 201 less than in March 2023, and a percentage change of 0.9%.

The department has not made a forecast estimation of the likely proportionate change in providers by September 2024 or September 2025.

It is important to note however that this is not an accurate measure of capacity in the sector. The latest Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey (2023) shows that the number of Early Years places has increased by 40,000 in 2023 compared with 2018. At the same time, the total population of 0 to 5 year olds has declined by 1% per year every year from 2018 to 2022, according to the latest available Office for National Statistics data.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the (a) number and (b) percentage of (i) private, (ii) voluntary and (iii) independent childcare providers has changed since March 2023.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The number of private, voluntary and independent providers that are registered on the Early Years Register as of 31 March 2023 was 22,691.

The latest available data for December 2023 shows that the number of private, voluntary and independent providers that are registered on the Early Years Register was 22,490, which is 201 less than in March 2023, and a percentage change of 0.9%.

The department has not made a forecast estimation of the likely proportionate change in providers by September 2024 or September 2025.

It is important to note however that this is not an accurate measure of capacity in the sector. The latest Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey (2023) shows that the number of Early Years places has increased by 40,000 in 2023 compared with 2018. At the same time, the total population of 0 to 5 year olds has declined by 1% per year every year from 2018 to 2022, according to the latest available Office for National Statistics data.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to count the number of staff working in the early years and childcare sector.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department collects information on the overall size of the workforce through its regular Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2023.

The latest data from this survey was published in December 2023 and showed the number of paid staff working in the early years sector had increased by 13,000 in 2023 alone.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of her policies on the childcare workforce.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

In accordance with standard practice, new policies which have been introduced to support the early years workforce will be evaluated to understand their impact and effectiveness. This includes the recently announced national recruitment campaign and early years financial incentives pilot, details of which can be found at: https://earlyyearscareers.campaign.gov.uk/.

The department is also regularly engaging with both local authorities and early years providers from across the country to better understand the impact of workforce policies on the early years workforce in their local areas.

Additionally, the department collects information on the childcare workforce through the Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers which showed 13,000 more people working in the sector in 2023 alone. The survey can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2023.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to evaluate the recommendations of the 2024 School Teachers’ Review Body report.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) makes recommendations on the pay of teachers in England and reports to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, and my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister.

As part of the normal process, the STRB has now submitted its recommendations to the government on teacher pay for 2024/25. The government will publish its response in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish the 2024 School Teachers’ Review Body report.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) makes recommendations on the pay of teachers in England and reports to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, and my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister.

As part of the normal process, the STRB has now submitted its recommendations to the government on teacher pay for 2024/25. The government will publish its response in due course.

Found: Letter dated 22/04/2024 from Sir Martyn Oliver, His Majesty's Chief Inspector, to Bridget Phillipson