Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department is making on the provision of and parental choice on 30 hours of childcare to working parents in Hampshire.

The department is committed to ensuring all parents who are eligible for the 30 hours free childcare entitlement are able to take up a place that suits their childcare needs. That is why we ran a £100 million early years capital bid round, for which local authorities, in partnership with providers, were invited to submit bids. Over 350 projects across 123 local authorities were successful in this bid round – six of which were located in Hampshire.

Local authorities have a duty to secure childcare provision free of charge to qualifying children. They are, therefore, best placed to ensure parents in their area have a sufficient choice of childcare. As of 31 August, over 216,000 codes were issued for the autumn term, with 90% being validated as of 9 October.