Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure early education providers in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) Buckinghamshire comply with the updated statutory guidance on additional charges for government-funded entitlements.

Local authorities in England have a statutory duty to secure funded early education and childcare for eligible children in their area. The early education and childcare statutory guidance sets out what local authorities must do as required by legislation, and what they should do to meet their statutory duties.

To support local authorities with their statutory duties, the department recently published updated statutory guidance, which will come into effect in April 2025, reaffirming that whilst providers can charge parents for some additional extras, these charges must not be mandatory. The updates to the guidance will support local authorities to take a more consistent approach to implementing the rules across providers, including in Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire. Local authorities are responsible for implementing the guidance at a local level and can intervene where the guidance is not being followed.