Educational Settings

Claudia Webbe Excerpts

Wednesday 18th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Williamson]

I will certainly pass on that representation. I also thank Hull City Council for the work that it is doing to support schools and communities throughout the city of Kingston upon Hull.

[Claudia Webbe (Leicester East) (Lab)]

I have been contacted by a great many nurseries in my constituency who are understandably quite worried for the future. It is worth being clear about the detail. They said:

“Most of us will not survive more than a month without fee income. For some, it will be a matter of weeks.”

Nurseries are already under severe financial strain after a decade of Government underfunding, and childcare insurers are refusing to support them. I welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment to maintain nursery funding, but will he go further today and reassure my constituents by pledging to protect the income of nursery workers for as long as is necessary?

[Gavin Williamson]

I believe that for early years settings and nurseries we have probably gone further than any other aspect of business in making it absolutely clear that we will continue to guarantee the funding that they are in receipt of from Government, regardless of where the roll is. We made that statement yesterday. I very much hope that that point has been percolating right through the sector, but I will certainly ask the Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Vicky Ford), to continue to reiterate it to all nursery providers.