Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of the 20 per cent most disadvantaged two year olds who are currently taking up their free childcare place.
In February 2014, local authorities reported that around 103,000 two-year-olds were already accessing a funded early learning place. Of these, around 95,000 were from the 20% most disadvantaged cohort, which represents 73%.