Sandy Martin
Main Page: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)Department Debates - View all Sandy Martin's debates with the Department for Education
(7 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Justine Greening
We have been passionate about making sure that children who post-16 and post-18 want to pursue a route that is not purely academic have every bit as gold standard an education as their peers who want to follow more academic routes. That is why we are introducing T-levels. They were announced earlier this year in the Budget, which the CBI called a “breakthrough” Budget for skills. It will not just be good for raising attainment among and developing the potential of those young people; it is critical for our businesses that they have these skills. This is a win-win situation.
Sandy Martin (Ipswich) (Lab)
7. What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's policy on 30 hours of free childcare on the financial viability of childcare settings.
Dan Carden (Liverpool, Walton) (Lab)
20. What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's policy on 30 hours of free childcare on the financial viability of childcare settings.
The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Robert Goodwill)
The provision of 30 hours of free childcare is already working across the country. A recently published independent evaluation of the early roll-out programme shows that more than 80% of providers are willing and able to offer the extended hours. The Department will be investing an additional £1 billion per year by 2019-20 into the free entitlement, including more than £300 million per year to increase the national average funding rates paid to local authorities.
Sandy Martin
Given that 38% of nurseries have told the Pre-School Learning Alliance that they are unlikely to be financially viable in a year’s time, what urgent action is the Minister taking to help these providers?
Mr Goodwill
As I have pointed out, we carried out a pilot to show that this could work. We also got a review of childcare costs done that was described as “thorough” and “wide-ranging” by the National Audit Office. We have increased the minimum funding rate to £4.30 per hour, which means that £4.41 is paid for three and four-year-olds in Ipswich and £5.20 for two-year-olds.