Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government plans to extend childcare support to cover the school holidays.

The government is fully committed to ensuring that sufficient, flexible provision of childcare is made available to support hard working parents.

All childcare providers are able to offer the existing 15 hour free entitlement for 3 and 4 year olds during the school holidays, and a number of providers already do so. We will be consulting on proposals with regard to the new entitlement to 30 hours of free childcare, including how this offer can be made more flexible for working parents. We will work closely with the Local Government Association, local authorities and childcare providers to identify and remove barriers to flexible provision, including offering childcare during the school holidays.

In addition, my Rt. Hon friend the Sectary of State announced on the 6 October 2015 that parents will be granted a new ‘right to request’ wraparound and / or holiday childcare at their school. Childcare providers will also be given the right to request use of school sites outside school-hours to provide this care. The consultation on the ‘right to request’ opened on the 7 December and closes on 29 February 2016.