Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average monthly cost was of a childcare place in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England in each year since 2010.

For a child taking up the universal 15 hours entitlement, the costs to the government are as follows:

• in Coventry local authority for 2020-21: £2,565 a year (or £4.50 an hour);
• in the West Midlands for 2020-21: average £2,582 a year (or £4.53 an hour); and
• in England for 2020-21: average £2,764 a year (or £4.85 an hour).

Early years funding rates from the introduction of the early years national funding formula in 2017-18 can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-national-funding-formula-allocations-and-guidance.

Early years funding allocations are published as part of the dedicated schools grant here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2020-to-2021.