Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an estimate of the number of parents who are unable to access funded hours only places; and if she will make a statement.

The department is committed to supporting parents access a 30 hours’ place. Local councils have a duty to secure childcare provision free of charge to qualifying children. As of 31 August, over 216,000 codes were issued for the autumn term, with 90% being validated as of 9 October.

We know that some parents will purchase additional hours and services outside of the free entitlements, and where parents do decide to do this, it is a private matter between them and their chosen provider. But parents must not be required to pay any fee as a condition of taking up a free entitlement place, and must be offered alternative options. The early delivery evaluation reports showed that where additional charges were introduced, this had not deterred parents from taking up a place.

The department will be commissioning an independent evaluation of the first two terms of delivery of the 30 hours where we will be monitoring the impact of 30 hours, including charging for additional services.