Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it is her Department's policy to fund early years education outside a national funding formula.

The Government consulted earlier this year on proposals to ensure that early years funding is allocated efficiently and fairly across the country. Our aim is that funding reaches early years providers so they can deliver on a sustainable basis.

A national funding formula is core to these proposals, and covers the vast majority of funding for early years education. Alongside this, government proposed a targeted funding stream to build the capacity of providers to support disabled children; and indicated that it intended to retain the early years pupil premium to support disadvantaged children.

Government will publish a response to the consultation shortly.