Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the change in the early years funding formula on the number of places in maintained nursery schools and nursery classes in the London Borough of Southwark.

Maintained nursery schools make a very important contribution to social mobility. That is why, as we introduce new funding arrangements in the early years, we are providing local authorities with supplementary funding of £55m a year for their maintained nursery schools for at least two years. This will provide maintained nursery schools with stability by maintaining their current funding, and is part of our record investment in childcare – £6 billion per year by 2020.

We will say more about the funding of maintained nursery schools shortly in our response to the consultation on an Early Years National Funding Formula. We will also consult the sector on the future of maintained nursery schools, including on what happens after this two year period, in due course.