Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the average per-hour cost of childcare (a) in a nursery and (b) with a childminder in (i) Wallasey, (ii) Liverpool city region and (iii) the North West in each year since 2015.

The Government published data on the cost of delivering childcare in the North West of England for 2015 and 2018. The average hourly costs of delivery, with the respective publications from which the data is sourced, are:

The Government does not hold data relating specifically to the Wallasey constituency or Liverpool City Region.

[1] Table 16 of ‘SEED: The cost and funding of early education’ and is available at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/586235/SEED_-_The_cost_and_funding_of_early_education_-_RR552.pdf.

[2] Table 17 of ‘Providers’ finances: Evidence from the Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers 2018’ and is available at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/795332/Frontier_-_SCEYP_2018_Finance_Report_v2.pdf.

[3] Figure 8 (2-year-olds) and figure 19 (3- and 4-year-olds) of ‘Early Years Provider Costs Research’ and is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-providers-cost-study-2018. Average hourly costs are based on different collection methodologies and from different sources, so comparability is limited.

Figures in brackets indicate base sizes. Bases sizes under 50 cases should be treated with caution.

“All settings” is defined as private, voluntary, nursery class, maintained nursery schools, /children’s centre and childminder

“North West of England” is defined according to regional definition which can be found here:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/geography/ukgeographies/administrativegeography/england#regions-former-gors.