Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing local authorities with a discretionary fund to support families that have a child eligible for 30 hours of free childcare but mistakenly do not apply for an eligibility code.

The government is committed to ensuring parents have access to high-quality affordable childcare. The termly deadline for the 30 hours offer has been made clear to local authorities, providers and parents, and the department expects parents to adhere to these deadlines in order to ensure they are able to access a 30 hours place for their child.

The government has invested in strong and clear communications on the 30 hours offer, including a cross government website, Childcare Choices, which clearly sets out how and when a parent can access a place: www.childcarechoices.gov.uk. The department recognises that some applications may be delayed in the Childcare Service and we have put in place a 14 day discretionary period for those parents who applied in time but received a code after the deadline, through no fault of their own.

During the first year of delivery, over 379,000 codes were successfully generated by parents applying through the HM Revenue and Customs Childcare Service, with around 340,000 places being taken up by working parents across the country, taking huge pressures off family lives and budgets.