Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of the 30 hours free childcare entitlement on childcare providers' ability to (a) employ and (b) support (i) qualified early years teachers and (ii) other staff with suitable qualifications.

In March 2017 we published the Early Years Workforce Strategy which sets out the actions we will take to support the early years’ sector to attract, retain and develop the early years’ workforce. There has been no assessment of the effect of 30 hours’ free childcare on providers’ ability to employ and support qualified teachers and other staff.