Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to findings of his Department's Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers, published 1 November 2018, what assessment his Department has made of the reasons for the loss of 8,800 childcare providers since 2016; and what steps his Department is taking to prevent further decreases in the number of childcare providers.

Whilst the 2018 Childcare and Early Years Provider survey has shown a decrease in the number of providers since 2016, this has not impacted on parents being able to find a childcare place and, with the introduction of 30 hours, we had no reported sufficiency issues. Ofsted also publishes census data on the actual number of providers entering and leaving the market. Their latest published data based on registrations at 31 August 2018, confirms there is a downward trend in the number of providers registered with them, which primarily relates to childminders leaving the Early Years Register. Despite this, Ofsted’s official statistics confirm that the overall number of childcare places available has remained broadly stable since August 2012. They also show a small rise in the number of group-based providers in the most recent statistical period between 31 March 2018 and 31 August 2018. This information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-providers-and-inspections-as-at-31-august-2018.