Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has received any representations from local authorities or teachers on the effect of 30 hours of free childcare on the number of children attending maintained nursery schools.

We have received no formal correspondence on this topic. However, stakeholders across the early years sector, including maintained nursery schools (MNS), are considering how 30 hours might change patterns of attendance and take up. We do not currently hold data on how many parents are accessing 30 hours of free childcare place through a MNS at a national level, but this will be captured in the January 2018 census.

Maintained nursery schools are able to offer the 30 hours entitlement, as are all early years providers. However, if they cannot or do not want to offer the whole entitlement themselves, we would encourage them to consider a range of options for being involved in the delivery of the 30 hours entitlement, including working in partnership with other providers.