Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the introduction of the 30 hours free childcare policy on the number of nurseries in England.

The 30 hours free childcare policy was introduced in September 2017 and is an entitlement for working parents of 3 year olds and 4 year olds. It aims to help working parents with the costs of childcare so they can take up paid work if they want to or can work additional hours.

Approximately 345,000 children were in a 30 hours place in January 2020. The Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers 2019 showed that the majority of providers with children aged 3 to 4 registered at their setting at the time of the survey were offering 30 hours (90% of group-based providers, 70% of school-based providers and 80% of childminders).

The number of providers offering childcare on non-domestic premises, which includes nurseries, on the Early Years Register (EYR) has seen a small reduction of 5% from 31 August 2015 to 31 August 2020.

On 31 August 2020, there were 1.3 million childcare places offered by providers on the EYR, including nurseries and those on domestic premises such as childminders. There is no noticeable change in this trend around 2017, when the 30 hours policy was introduced.

Ofsted data indicates that, despite around 14,500 providers having closed between March 2015 and March 2020, there are approximately 15,400 more childcare places, with the majority of closed providers being childminders.

The evaluation of the first year of the national roll-out of 30 hours of free childcare found that provision expanded among providers delivering the extended hours through increased occupancy and higher use of staff. There was no evidence of any immediate adverse effect on other funded or paid provision. It also found that a high proportion (76%) of providers delivering the funded entitlement were willing and able to offer the extended hours.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure sufficient childcare places in their area for all children, including children benefitting from any of the department’s free early education entitlements.