Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to monitor the potential impact of new nursery provision on childcare (a) availability and (b) affordability in areas already served by existing providers.

Local authorities are required by legislation to secure sufficient childcare places for children in their areas, and the department will continue to speak to local authorities in England about their sufficiency of childcare. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and, where needed, support with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.