Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of childcare provision in Easington constituency.

The department continues to monitor the sufficiency of childcare nationally. The key measure of sufficiency is whether the supply of available places is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents and children. Ofsted data currently shows that the number of places offered by providers on the Early Years Register has remained broadly stable at 1.3 million places since August 2015.

Officials from the department also discuss sufficiency of provision in regular conversations with local authorities. Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring sufficient childcare places in their area. The department has not been made aware by any local authority of any current sufficiency problem. Durham Council, which holds the statutory duty to secure sufficient childcare in Easington, is not reporting that these closures will affect their ability to fulfil this duty.

According to findings from the 2021 childcare and early years providers survey, 7 in 10 group-based providers reported having spare places in their full day provision and 49% of childminders reported having spare capacity on average across the week.