Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the level of affordability of childcare provision in Easington constituency.

The department continues to look at ways to make childcare more affordable and to encourage families to use government-funded support they are entitled to.

The department collects data on the main characteristics of childcare and early years provision in England and fees data can be broken down to local authority level.

Easington constituency falls within Durham County Council, where the latest data shows the average hourly fee for childcare to be £5.00 for two-year-old children, and £4.75 for three and four-year-old children.