Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help increase the availability of childcare in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency.

In the government’s Spring Budget, on 15 March, the government announced a number of transformative reforms to childcare for parents, children, the economy and women. By 2027/28, the government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This announcement represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.

This measure will expand the free early education entitlements offer, so that eligible working parents in England will be able to access 30 hours of childcare per week, for 38 weeks of the year, from when their child is nine months old to when they start school.

This will be rolled out in stages:

• From April 2024, all working parents of two-year-olds can access 15 hours per week.
• From September 2024, all working parents of children aged nine months up to three years old can access 15 hours per week.
• From September 2025, all working parents of children aged nine months up to three years old can access 30 hours free childcare per week.

The government will also substantially uplift the hourly rate paid to local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers, to deliver existing free entitlements offers. In 2023/24 £204 million of additional funding will be provided, paid from September 2023, rising to £288 million by 2024/25.

This will include an average of 30% increase in the two-year-old rate from September 2023, and means that the average hourly rate for two year olds will rise from the current £6 per hour in 2023/24 to around £8 per hour. The average three to four year old rate will rise in line with inflation to over £5.50 per hour from September 2023, with further uplifts beyond this.

The early years workforce makes a huge contribution to young children’s lives. Supporting and growing this workforce to deliver the transformative reforms announced by the Chancellor in the Spring Budget is a priority for the department.

The department will launch a new national recruitment campaign early next year to support the recruitment and retention of talented staff. Alongside this, we will consider how to introduce new accelerated apprenticeship and degree apprenticeship routes so everyone from junior staff to senior leaders can easily move into a career in the sector.

The department has also launched a consultation on the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) to offer providers increased flexibility and alleviate known burdens, exploring giving providers more choice over how they operate and making it easier for them to deliver the EYFS. The intention is that these changes will support settings to deliver the new entitlements announced at the Spring Budget.

Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the Early education and childcare statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents. The guidance can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1149556/Early_education_and_childcare_statutory_guidance_-_April_2023.pdf.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing, including Bexley local authority, who oversee the Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency.

Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department discuss what action the local authority is taking to address those issues.