Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's press notice entitled Childcare offer exceeds target, benefiting over 500,000 children, published on 24 September 2025, how many children by (a) income, (b) ethnicity, (c) disability, (d) rural location and (e) urban location are (i) receiving and (ii) not receiving 30 hours of childcare.

The government’s Plan for Change sets out a commitment to give children the best start in life, breaking the link between background and opportunity.

The department cannot provide figures on Eligibility Checking System (ECS) entitlement code validation broken down by income, ethnicity, disability, rural location and urban location. This is because detailed demographic data on children is not collected by the system used in the publication of ECS codes. The department also does not hold comprehensive detailed information on the children who do not receive funded childcare.

The early years and school censuses are publications separate from the ECS that disaggregate children in receipt of entitlements by disadvantaged status, ethnicity and special educational needs provision. The first early years and school censuses to collect data on the number of children registered for the expanded 30-hour entitlement since the September 2025 rollout will be based on the January 2026 period. Their provisional release date is July 2026.