Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to create a strategy outlining how her Department plans to ensure that all parents who require childcare are able to access those facilities.

The Spring Budget 2023 announced the largest ever investment in childcare in England. The measures that were announced will be transformative for parents, children and the economy.

The department is committed to improving the cost, choice, and availability of childcare. Government-funded schemes are designed to be flexible enough to support the different situations families face, including parents who are night workers.

We are closing the gap between parental leave ending and the current childcare offer for working parents, and ensuring all parents of primary-aged children can access wraparound childcare in school.

The government will also increase support for those parents on Universal Credit who face the highest childcare costs, often because they are working longer hours, by increasing the Universal Credit childcare cost maximum amount and providing support with childcare costs upfront rather than arrears.

By 2027/28, government funding on free hours and early education will be in excess of £8 billion a year. This will help working families with their childcare costs, meaning thousands of parents, including night workers, will benefit from government funded support.

The department will invest £204 million in 2023/24 to uplift the rates for existing entitlements, rising to £288 million in 2024/25, with further uplifts beyond this so that providers have the funding they need to deliver childcare entitlements.

The department is also launching a new national wraparound childcare pilot scheme. We will provide a total of £289 million in start-up funding to enable schools and local areas to test flexible ways of providing childcare.

We are continuing to take action to maintain choice and availability for parents by attracting more people to childminding, through a £7.2 million start up grant fund over the next two years.