Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the average shortfall between Government funding and the actual cost to nurseries of delivering a funded nursery place.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is our ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life. This is key to the government’s Plan for Change, which starts with reaching the milestone of a record number of children being ready for school. That also means ensuring the sector is financially sustainable and confident as it continues to deliver entitlements and high-quality early years provision going forward.
In 2025/26 alone, this government plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements and we have increased the early years pupil premium by over 45%. On top of this, we are providing further supplementary funding of £75 million for the Early Years Expansion Grant.
To set early years funding rates, we uplift the national average rate from the previous year taking into account cost pressures facing the sector, including forecasts of average earnings and inflation, and the National Living Wage. We use the early years national funding formulae (EYNFF) to distribute the early years entitlements budget to local authorities. The EYNFF includes a base rate for each child, which is the same minimum funding for every child no matter where they live or whether they have additional needs. This rate is based on the core costs of childcare provision and has been informed by the cost of childcare review.
To make sure we can account for the differences in costs across the country, such as on staffing and premises costs, we also apply an area cost adjustment for each area. This approach only increases funding, it never reduces the base rate or additional needs funding.
The average hourly funding rate provided for 3 and 4-year-olds since 2018 is as follows:
Year | 3 and 4-year-old combined rate |
2017/18 | £4.76 |
2018/19 | £4.75 |
2019/20 | £4.75 |
2020/21 | £4.83 |
2021/22 | £4.88 |
2022/23 | £5.04 |
2023/24 (April – August) | £5.28 |
2023/24 (September – March) | £5.62 |
2024/25 | £5.88 |
2025/26 | £6.12 |
Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding rates for early years providers offering free nursery places.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is our ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life. This is key to the government’s Plan for Change, which starts with reaching the milestone of a record number of children being ready for school. That also means ensuring the sector is financially sustainable and confident as it continues to deliver entitlements and high-quality early years provision going forward.
In 2025/26 alone, this government plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements and we have increased the early years pupil premium by over 45%. On top of this, we are providing further supplementary funding of £75 million for the Early Years Expansion Grant.
To set early years funding rates, we uplift the national average rate from the previous year taking into account cost pressures facing the sector, including forecasts of average earnings and inflation, and the National Living Wage. We use the early years national funding formulae (EYNFF) to distribute the early years entitlements budget to local authorities. The EYNFF includes a base rate for each child, which is the same minimum funding for every child no matter where they live or whether they have additional needs. This rate is based on the core costs of childcare provision and has been informed by the cost of childcare review.
To make sure we can account for the differences in costs across the country, such as on staffing and premises costs, we also apply an area cost adjustment for each area. This approach only increases funding, it never reduces the base rate or additional needs funding.
The average hourly funding rate provided for 3 and 4-year-olds since 2018 is as follows:
Year | 3 and 4-year-old combined rate |
2017/18 | £4.76 |
2018/19 | £4.75 |
2019/20 | £4.75 |
2020/21 | £4.83 |
2021/22 | £4.88 |
2022/23 | £5.04 |
2023/24 (April – August) | £5.28 |
2023/24 (September – March) | £5.62 |
2024/25 | £5.88 |
2025/26 | £6.12 |
Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of regional variations in the cost of delivering nursery provision in England.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is our ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life. This is key to the government’s Plan for Change, which starts with reaching the milestone of a record number of children being ready for school. That also means ensuring the sector is financially sustainable and confident as it continues to deliver entitlements and high-quality early years provision going forward.
In 2025/26 alone, this government plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements and we have increased the early years pupil premium by over 45%. On top of this, we are providing further supplementary funding of £75 million for the Early Years Expansion Grant.
To set early years funding rates, we uplift the national average rate from the previous year taking into account cost pressures facing the sector, including forecasts of average earnings and inflation, and the National Living Wage. We use the early years national funding formulae (EYNFF) to distribute the early years entitlements budget to local authorities. The EYNFF includes a base rate for each child, which is the same minimum funding for every child no matter where they live or whether they have additional needs. This rate is based on the core costs of childcare provision and has been informed by the cost of childcare review.
To make sure we can account for the differences in costs across the country, such as on staffing and premises costs, we also apply an area cost adjustment for each area. This approach only increases funding, it never reduces the base rate or additional needs funding.
The average hourly funding rate provided for 3 and 4-year-olds since 2018 is as follows:
Year | 3 and 4-year-old combined rate |
2017/18 | £4.76 |
2018/19 | £4.75 |
2019/20 | £4.75 |
2020/21 | £4.83 |
2021/22 | £4.88 |
2022/23 | £5.04 |
2023/24 (April – August) | £5.28 |
2023/24 (September – March) | £5.62 |
2024/25 | £5.88 |
2025/26 | £6.12 |
Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support the financial sustainability of nursery providers in the context of changes to free childcare entitlement.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government’s Plan for Change sets out a commitment to give children the best start in life, breaking the link between background and opportunity. We want a record proportion of children (75%) to achieve a good level of development by the end of reception by 2028. By focusing on child development rather than just childcare, the government aims to ensure that children are better prepared for school and future learning.
In 2025/26 alone, we plan to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements. This is a more than 30% increase compared to 2024/25, as we roll out the expansion of the entitlements.
As announced at the Spending Review, the government will provide an additional £1.6 billion per year by 2028/29, compared to 2025/26, to continue the expansion of government-funded childcare for working parents. Employment Allowance is being increased to protect businesses by providing relief of up to £10,500 per annum on their employer Class 1 National Insurance contributions liabilities from 6 April 2025. Early years childcare providers are entitled to claim the Employment Allowance if they are private businesses or charities, and we expect the vast majority will be eligible to do so.
Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many free nursery hours were funded in each year since 2018; and what the total cost to the public was in each of those years.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Funding for the early years entitlements is based on part-time equivalent (PTE) hours. We define 1 PTE as 15 hours across 38 weeks a year (570 funded hours per annum).
Early years entitlements funding is allocated to local authorities through the early years block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG). DSG allocations are published annually on GOV.UK. The figures requested have been provided in the attached table.
Early years entitlements funding is demand led, so allocations are updated to reflect actual take-up throughout the year. Final allocations for a financial year are available in the July following the financial year ending in March.
Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average hourly funding rate provided to local authorities for the delivery of free nursery places in England was in each year since 2018.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is our ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life. This is key to the government’s Plan for Change, which starts with reaching the milestone of a record number of children being ready for school. That also means ensuring the sector is financially sustainable and confident as it continues to deliver entitlements and high-quality early years provision going forward.
In 2025/26 alone, this government plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements and we have increased the early years pupil premium by over 45%. On top of this, we are providing further supplementary funding of £75 million for the Early Years Expansion Grant.
To set early years funding rates, we uplift the national average rate from the previous year taking into account cost pressures facing the sector, including forecasts of average earnings and inflation, and the National Living Wage. We use the early years national funding formulae (EYNFF) to distribute the early years entitlements budget to local authorities. The EYNFF includes a base rate for each child, which is the same minimum funding for every child no matter where they live or whether they have additional needs. This rate is based on the core costs of childcare provision and has been informed by the cost of childcare review.
To make sure we can account for the differences in costs across the country, such as on staffing and premises costs, we also apply an area cost adjustment for each area. This approach only increases funding, it never reduces the base rate or additional needs funding.
The average hourly funding rate provided for 3 and 4-year-olds since 2018 is as follows:
Year | 3 and 4-year-old combined rate |
2017/18 | £4.76 |
2018/19 | £4.75 |
2019/20 | £4.75 |
2020/21 | £4.83 |
2021/22 | £4.88 |
2022/23 | £5.04 |
2023/24 (April – August) | £5.28 |
2023/24 (September – March) | £5.62 |
2024/25 | £5.88 |
2025/26 | £6.12 |
Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many nursery providers have closed in England in each year since 2018; and what data her Department holds on the reasons for those closures.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government’s Plan for Change sets out a commitment to give children the best start in life, breaking the link between background and opportunity.
Ofsted publishes data on the numbers of all types of providers joining and leaving the sector each year. Some caution is required in using the numbers because, for example, a nursery may resign one registration and immediately register new provision. Please also note that this data was released under the previous government:
| 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Childcare providers leaving the sector | -10,900 | -10,600 | -8,270 | -11,300 | -11,100 | -9,650 | -7,520 |
Childcare providers joining the sector | 9,140 | 7,870 | 7,400 | 6,990 | 5,690 | 6,330 | 6,490 |
Net change | -1,760 | -2,730 | -870 | -4,310 | -5,410 | -3,320 | -1,030 |
Note that from 2019/20, the numbers of annual joiners and leavers are calculated by comparing the beginning of the year to the end. Therefore, the numbers of providers joining and leaving from 2019/20 are not comparable with the figures up to 2018/19.
Ofsted’s most recent publication shows the number of places available increased by 12,100 (1%) between August 2023 and August 2024. The department’s projections on demand for places are not published by region but show that around half of local areas need to increase their capacity by between 10% and 20% to meet demand for September 2025, with the highest uplift being in some of the most disadvantaged areas.
Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative estimate her Department has made of the (a) number of available nursery places and (b) demand for those places in England by region.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government’s Plan for Change sets out a commitment to give children the best start in life, breaking the link between background and opportunity.
Ofsted publishes data on the numbers of all types of providers joining and leaving the sector each year. Some caution is required in using the numbers because, for example, a nursery may resign one registration and immediately register new provision. Please also note that this data was released under the previous government:
| 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Childcare providers leaving the sector | -10,900 | -10,600 | -8,270 | -11,300 | -11,100 | -9,650 | -7,520 |
Childcare providers joining the sector | 9,140 | 7,870 | 7,400 | 6,990 | 5,690 | 6,330 | 6,490 |
Net change | -1,760 | -2,730 | -870 | -4,310 | -5,410 | -3,320 | -1,030 |
Note that from 2019/20, the numbers of annual joiners and leavers are calculated by comparing the beginning of the year to the end. Therefore, the numbers of providers joining and leaving from 2019/20 are not comparable with the figures up to 2018/19.
Ofsted’s most recent publication shows the number of places available increased by 12,100 (1%) between August 2023 and August 2024. The department’s projections on demand for places are not published by region but show that around half of local areas need to increase their capacity by between 10% and 20% to meet demand for September 2025, with the highest uplift being in some of the most disadvantaged areas.
Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many new nursery settings have opened in England in each year since 2018.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government’s Plan for Change sets out a commitment to give children the best start in life, breaking the link between background and opportunity.
Ofsted publishes data on the numbers of all types of providers joining and leaving the sector each year. Some caution is required in using the numbers because, for example, a nursery may resign one registration and immediately register new provision. Please also note that this data was released under the previous government:
| 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Childcare providers leaving the sector | -10,900 | -10,600 | -8,270 | -11,300 | -11,100 | -9,650 | -7,520 |
Childcare providers joining the sector | 9,140 | 7,870 | 7,400 | 6,990 | 5,690 | 6,330 | 6,490 |
Net change | -1,760 | -2,730 | -870 | -4,310 | -5,410 | -3,320 | -1,030 |
Note that from 2019/20, the numbers of annual joiners and leavers are calculated by comparing the beginning of the year to the end. Therefore, the numbers of providers joining and leaving from 2019/20 are not comparable with the figures up to 2018/19.
Ofsted’s most recent publication shows the number of places available increased by 12,100 (1%) between August 2023 and August 2024. The department’s projections on demand for places are not published by region but show that around half of local areas need to increase their capacity by between 10% and 20% to meet demand for September 2025, with the highest uplift being in some of the most disadvantaged areas.
Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on implementing the recommendations of the Durham Commission on Creativity and Education.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
In July 2024, this government established the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE.
The Review seeks to deliver a rich, broad, inclusive and innovative curriculum that readies young people for life and work. This includes creative subjects such as art, music and drama, as well as skills for life and work.
On 18 March, the Review published a well-evidenced, clear interim report, which sets out its interim findings and confirms the key areas for further work.
The final report with recommendations will be published this autumn, along with the government’s response. The Review’s recommendations will inform changes to the current system.
The Durham Commission report published in 2019 set out a number of recommendations, and some were taken forward by the previous government, Arts Council England and others.
This includes the ‘Creativity Collaboratives’ programme established by Arts Council England in 2021 to test innovative practices in teaching for creativity.