Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Autumn Statement 2022 and the announcement of an additional £2.3 billion of funding for education in 2023 and 2024, whether that funding will be available to maintained nursery schools.

In the 2022 Autumn Statement, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor did not commit to new measures for early years, including maintained nursery schools (MNS).

The department has increased funding to local authorities to increase the hourly rates they pay to childcare providers, including MNS, and we are providing additional support for all early years providers with their energy costs over the winter. Further, specifically for MNS, the department has already announced that an additional £10 million will be invested into MNS supplementary funding from 2023/24. This is in addition to the increase to supplementary funding in 2022/23, where the department increased the hourly funding rate by 3.5%, which is equivalent to the increase in the 3 and 4-year-old hourly funding rates. The department has confirmed the continuation of MNS supplementary funding throughout the spending review period, providing the sector with long-term certainty.