Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what mechanisms her Department has for ensuring that local authorities manage their childcare funding effectively.

We are currently considering all responses to our recent consultation on proposals for a national funding formula for the early years. These proposals will ensure that funding for the early years is based on the costs of meeting the needs of local children, not on historic spending patterns.

As we implement our proposals, which will be set out in the government’s response to the consultation in the autumn, we will closely monitor and review the impact to ensure that local authorities and providers are able to deliver the childcare entitlements in a sustainable way.

We have also recently appointed Childcare Works as a delivery contractor to work with, and to monitor, local authorities on their preparedness for delivery of the 30-hours offer of free childcare for working parents.