Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has carried out an assessment of the potential effect of the end of transitional funding on the number of maintained nursery schools in England.

Maintained nursery schools (MNS) make an important contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children. In recognition of the costs that MNS experience over and above other providers, we are providing supplementary funding - additional to funding received under the Early Years National Funding Formula (EYNFF), of around £60 million a year to enable local authorities to protect MNS pre-EYNFF funding levels at least until 2019-20.

Decisions about what happens after that will be taken as part of the next Spending Review and informed by research we are carrying out on the value that MNS offer.