Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Pursglove Excerpts

Monday 10th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gyimah]

New guidance on clarifying all the rules around free speech will be published this autumn.

[Tom Pursglove (Corby) (Con)]

15. What recent steps he has taken to help improve the quality of childcare provision.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Nadhim Zahawi)]

Latest Ofsted data confirm that 94% of providers were rated as good or outstanding, up 20 percentage points since 2012. We have recently published new criteria to raise the quality of level 2 qualifications and are investing £20 million in professional development for early years practitioners working in disadvantaged areas.

[Tom Pursglove]

Will the Minister join me in congratulating the Pen Green Centre in Corby on recently winning The Times Educational Supplement overall best school award? Has he given thought as to how best practice at that particular setting can be shared more widely?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

Maintained nursery schools make an important contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children. As I mentioned earlier, I have visited a number of these schools, as has the Secretary of State, and Pen Green is at the forefront of what maintained nursery schools do. Its award is well deserved and I offer it my warmest congratulations. Our research on the value offered by maintained nursery schools will inform spending review decisions about their future funding.