Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of the (a) opening and (b) closure of childcare settings in (a) affluent and (b) disadvantaged areas.

Ofsted publishes termly data on childcare providers and inspections. This statistical release confirms the number of providers that have registered with Ofsted (joiners) and the number that have left (leavers) in the relevant period. No data is published on trends of childcare settings opening and closing in affluent areas compared to disadvantaged areas.

As at 31 March 2019, there were 76,600 childcare providers registered with Ofsted, down by 1% (600) since December 2018. However, the overall number of childcare places increased by 3,200 since December 2018. This information is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childcare-providers-and-inspections-as-at-31-march-2019/childcare-providers-and-inspections-as-at-31-march-2019-main-findings.