Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of funding for maintained nursery schools to ensure that these organisations can continue to provide childcare services at full capacity as the UK emerges from the covid-19 outbreak.

Maintained nursery schools are an important part of the early years sector and provide valuable services, especially in disadvantaged areas.

As part of the recent Spending Review, the government has confirmed a continuation of around £60m of supplementary funding for maintained nursery schools (MSN) in the financial year 2021-22. This includes £23 million of supplementary funding that the government confirmed in August will be provided to local authorities for the summer term in 2021.

The department continues to consider what is required to ensure a clear, long-term picture of funding for MNS, and will say more about this soon. This government remains committed to the long-term funding of MNS, and any reform to the way they are funded will be accompanied by appropriate funding protections.