Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to ensure the provisions of adequate levels of high-quality childcare after the introduction of the scheme for 30 hours of free childcare; and what assessment she has made of the effect of that scheme on childcare providers' ability to employ well qualified early years teachers and other staff.

We are determined to support as many families as possible with access to high-quality, affordable childcare. As of March 2017, the proportion of childcare providers judged good or outstanding is at its highest ever at 93%. In the twelve Early Delivery areas, over 15,000 30 hours places were successfully delivered to eligible parents.

To help ensure quality, all providers offering government funded entitlements, including the 15 hours of funded early education of disadvantaged 2 year-olds, have to be registered with Ofsted and follow the EYFS Framework.

In March 2017, we published an early years workforce strategy which aims to support employers in attracting, retaining and developing their staff.

We are, for example, working with the sector to develop more robust criteria for the content of level 2 childcare qualifications, which will help level 2 workers to gain the knowledge and skills they need to deliver effective early education and childcare and to progress.