Written Question
Wednesday 29th April 2026
Asked by:
Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question
to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has any guidance around restrictions being placed by nurseries on hours during which government funded childcare hours can be accessed, such as limiting provision to specific times of the day.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The ‘Early Education and Childcare’ statutory guidance states that local authorities should encourage providers to offer flexible packages of free hours, which will enable children to access regular, high-quality provision, while maximising flexibility for parents and ensuring a degree of stability for providers.
Local authorities should enable parents to take up their child’s free place in patterns of hours that stretch their child’s entitlement by taking fewer hours a week over more weeks of the year, where there is provider capacity and parental demand.
Additionally, local authorities should ensure that parents and providers are aware that there is no requirement that free places must be taken on, or delivered on, particular days of the week or at particular times of the day.
Scheduled Event -
28 Apr 2026, 11 a.m.
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Commons -
Westminster Hall debate - Westminster Hall
UK-India Technology Security Initiative
MP:
Dan Aldridge
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 28 Apr 2026
UK-India Technology Security Initiative
"I absolutely agree. One of the most exciting things about the UK-India partnership is the complementarity of our needs. To build on my hon. Friend’s point about that partnership on critical minerals, an example of our partnership is the UK-India critical minerals supply chain observatory—the first of its kind in …..."Dan Aldridge - View Speech
View all Dan Aldridge (Lab - Weston-super-Mare) contributions to the debate on: UK-India Technology Security Initiative
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 28 Apr 2026
UK-India Technology Security Initiative
"I absolutely agree. One of the things I took back to my constituency was about how I engage with schoolchildren and college students, but that point is much wider; we should be really ambitious in that cross-cultural dialogue. There is nothing but gains to be had, so far as I …..."Dan Aldridge - View Speech
View all Dan Aldridge (Lab - Weston-super-Mare) contributions to the debate on: UK-India Technology Security Initiative
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 28 Apr 2026
UK-India Technology Security Initiative
"As ever, I agree with my hon. Friend. Specifically on the point about how we build our domestic capacity, there is something very exciting about the new £500 million investment in sovereign AI. It would be great to hear how that investment might—I hope—be linked closely to this work...."Dan Aldridge - View Speech
View all Dan Aldridge (Lab - Weston-super-Mare) contributions to the debate on: UK-India Technology Security Initiative
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 28 Apr 2026
UK-India Technology Security Initiative
"Absolutely. All the officials we worked with were fantastic.
The UK-India tech security initiative is the right framework at the right moment. It covers the technologies that will define this country and it brings together Government, industry and academia. It has the backing of both Prime Ministers and cross-party support. …..."Dan Aldridge - View Speech
View all Dan Aldridge (Lab - Weston-super-Mare) contributions to the debate on: UK-India Technology Security Initiative
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 28 Apr 2026
UK-India Technology Security Initiative
"I beg to move,
That this House has considered the UK-India Technology Security Initiative.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Alec. As a member of the Business and Trade Committee, I recently visited India, alongside colleagues from across the House, as part of our inquiry into …..."Dan Aldridge - View Speech
View all Dan Aldridge (Lab - Weston-super-Mare) contributions to the debate on: UK-India Technology Security Initiative
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 28 Apr 2026
UK-India Technology Security Initiative
"When I was on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, we visited Queen’s and talked about its cyber-security prowess. The ecosystem in the UK is very much connected—something we are very proud of—so I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention.
I am delighted to have secured this debate; in the …..."Dan Aldridge - View Speech
View all Dan Aldridge (Lab - Weston-super-Mare) contributions to the debate on: UK-India Technology Security Initiative
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 28 Apr 2026
UK-India Technology Security Initiative
"I thank my hon. Friend, who accompanied me to India. It was a phenomenally insightful visit.
The human connection is not incidental to this debate; it is the very foundation of it. I use this opportunity to give a special shout-out to people such as Akhilesh Madhav and his family, …..."Dan Aldridge - View Speech
View all Dan Aldridge (Lab - Weston-super-Mare) contributions to the debate on: UK-India Technology Security Initiative
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 28 Apr 2026
UK-India Technology Security Initiative
"Absolutely. Building on that point, many of us who made that visit think we need to address the problem that too much of British public life is working with an image of India that is frankly decades out of date. Many still think of India as a poor nation, a …..."Dan Aldridge - View Speech
View all Dan Aldridge (Lab - Weston-super-Mare) contributions to the debate on: UK-India Technology Security Initiative