Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many three and four year-old children benefitted from the 15 hours free childcare allowance in (1) nursery classes in primary schools, and (2) maintained nursery schools, in each of the previous five years.

The information requested is shown in the table below.

Number of 3- and 4-year-olds benefitting from funded early education places in January each year

Source: Early Years Census (EYC), School Census (SC), and School Level Annual School Census (SLASC)

The information is published as part of the statistical first release entitled “Provision for children under 5 years of age”.

The Department has also estimated that in 2013 there were 230,000 more registered childcare and early education places than in 2009, based on data from the Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey. The basis for this internal estimate differs significantly from the above because: registered childcare includes unfunded childcare places; covering places for all children aged 0-5; including places in private and voluntary providers and provided by childminders. The estimate excludes out of school settings.