Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an estimate of how many children are not currently accessing their full 30 hours of free childcare because their specialist needs are not being accommodated.

We do not currently hold data about the number of free hours that are being used by children that are eligible for 30 hours or the reasons why a child may not be accessing their full entitlement.

We will collect data about the number of children taking up 30 hours free childcare in January 2018 Early Years and Schools Census. This will be published in the ‘Education provision: children under 5 years of age’ statistical first release in summer 2018. This will include data about the number of children with special educational needs or a disability taking up government-funded hours.