Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the provision of (a) 30 hours of free childcare and (b) tax-free childcare on the number of childcare information officers employed by local authorities.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The information requested is not held centrally. The provision of children information officers is a matter for individual local authorities.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide information, advice and assistance to parents and prospective parents on the provision of childcare in their area, including the 30 hours offer and HM Revenue and Customs Tax-Free Childcare. The government requires all local authorities to pass through 95% of their three and four year old funding to early years providers.
The department also provides direct support from officials and through our delivery partner, Childcare Works, to ensure they are best placed to deliver the government’s childcare offers.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2018 to Question 179290, how many mainstream and special (a) free schools that have opened since September 2017 (i) have or (ii) have plans for nursery provision and (b) primary schools that have been approved since that date have plans for nursery provision.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Of the mainstream and special free schools opened since September 2017, 21 have nursery provision, and a further nine have plans for nursery provision. These figures are broken down in the attached table.
Of the 20 primary schools approved by the department during the same period, 13 have plans for nursery provision. This includes 11 (of 18) schools approved following local authority-run competitions (as required by Section 6A of the Education and Inspection Act 2006) and 2 (of 2) special primary schools approved through the department’s special free school application wave. These figures relate to schools that have exclusively primary-aged pupils.
As local authorities (LA) are responsible for approving LA maintained schools, we do not hold information on the number of LA maintained schools approved in this period.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of primary schools which have opened since September 2017 (a) include a nursery and (b) do not include a nursery.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Since September 2017, 60% of the mainstream and special free schools that have opened currently have, or have plans for, nursery provision. Since September 2017, 65% of mainstream and special primary schools approved, currently have plans for nursery provision.
In addition to this, four voluntary-aided (VA) primary schools have opened, one of these includes nursery provision. Some, or all of the VA schools, may be as result of local reconfiguration of schools in an area. As local authorities are responsible for approving VA schools, we do not hold information on the number of VA schools approved in this period.
These figures relate to schools that have exclusively primary-aged pupils.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of new primary schools that have been approved since September 2017 (a) include plans a nursery and (b) do not include plans for a nursery.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Since September 2017, 60% of the mainstream and special free schools that have opened currently have, or have plans for, nursery provision. Since September 2017, 65% of mainstream and special primary schools approved, currently have plans for nursery provision.
In addition to this, four voluntary-aided (VA) primary schools have opened, one of these includes nursery provision. Some, or all of the VA schools, may be as result of local reconfiguration of schools in an area. As local authorities are responsible for approving VA schools, we do not hold information on the number of VA schools approved in this period.
These figures relate to schools that have exclusively primary-aged pupils.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of (a) removing and (b) freezing business rates on early years and childcare settings.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Not all early years and childcare settings in England will pay business rates. The government has introduced a range of business rate reforms and measures, which will be worth more than £10 billion by 2023. This includes:
We are also increasing the frequency of property revaluations from every five to every three years following the next revaluation, to ensure that bills more accurately reflect property values.
Further, we provided powers under the Localism Act 2011 to enable local authorities to offer business rate discounts. In 2015, officials wrote to all councils to encourage them to use those powers to support access to local high-quality childcare provision. It is a matter for local authorities to exercise those powers as they see fit. We do not collect information on how local authorities have used these powers in relation to early years and childcare settings.
There has been no specific assessment made of the impacts of removing or freezing business rates on the early years market, however we have commissioned independent research to provide us with robust, up-to-date evidence on the costs of delivering childcare, including operating costs such as business rates.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of eligible disabled children are accessing 30 hours of free childcare.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information his Department holds on the (a) number of nursery closures and (b) the length of time those nurseries were in business in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons there are fewer children registered for 30 hours of free childcare in the autumn 2018 term than there were in the summer 2018 term.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The decline in numbers in the autumn term 2018 is an expected effect driven by four-year olds entering reception and no longer being able to use their code for the 30 hours policy. In autumn term 2018, there were 254,136 codes issued which is an increase from autumn term 2017 where there were 224,885 codes issued.
For the autumn term 2018, to be eligible for 30 hours free childcare a child will have to have turned three on or before the 31st August 2018. Most children who had turned four by 31st August will be in a reception place instead which results in less children with issued codes for the autumn 2018 term compared to the summer 2018 term.
We publish termly experimental statistics showing the number of children in a place. The full publication, which shows local authority and regional level breakdowns, is available here:
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much his Department has spent from the public purse on (a) advertising and (b) marketing the 30 hours of free childcare in (a) autumn 2017, (b) spring 2018, (c) summer 2018 and (d) autumn 2018.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
As of the 30 September 2018, we have spent £268,842.90 on advertising and marketing the 30 hours free childcare offer since it launched on the 1 September 2017. This includes paid for social media advertising, flyers and hosting information about the offer on the Childcare Choices website. The social media communications has been particularly successful, reaching more than 5.3 million people.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department’s Early Years Social Mobility Peer Review Programme, published in April 2018, when he plans to publish further information on the design of the programme.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Further information will be published alongside the launch of the main phase of the Early Years Social Mobility Peer Review Programme in early autumn 2018. Peer reviewers will be selected on the basis of their expertise and experience. All peer reviewers will be expected to have an excellent understanding of services for disadvantaged children and families as well as the drivers of outcomes at the age of five.