Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative assessment he has made of (a) availability of pre-school places and (b) demand for those places.

Answered by Vicky Ford

Local authorities are responsible for stewardship of local childcare markets. The department continues to work in close partnership with local authorities to monitor sufficiency of provision for children and parents. We have not seen a significant number of parents unable to secure a childcare place, this term or since early year settings re-opened fully on 1 June 2020. Where parents have been unable to temporarily secure a childcare place, for example due to their usual setting being temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, this has been able to be quickly resolved locally. Local authorities are not reporting any significant sufficiency issues.

Our official data collection has monitored attendance in early years settings throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, and can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak. Additionally, Ipsos MORI conducted wave 8 of our parent poll, ‘Childcare use, perceived impact on child development, and information on working from home for families of 0-4 year-olds during COVID-19’ in March 2021, with a representative sample of 1,000 parents of children aged 0-4 in England. The data has been weighted to match the population profile of parents of children aged 0-4 in England by region, social grade and the age of the selected child. Key points from the findings include:

• Most parents (86%) who used formal childcare before the COVID-19 outbreak and are currently using it say that their child is spending about the same number of hours or more in formal childcare as they did before.
• More than half (53%) of parents report their child is currently using formal childcare, this increases to 88% when looking at just those children who were receiving formal childcare before the COVID-19 outbreak. Households in the least deprived areas were more likely to be using formal childcare.
• Only 4% of parents who are not currently using formal childcare would like to use it but cannot find a suitable provider.
• Nearly two thirds of parents of 0–4-year-olds currently using childcare (64%) agree that the hours their child(ren) can access formal or informal childcare/school fits with the working hours of the adults in the household.

The report can be accessed via this link: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/childcare-use-perceived-impact-child-development-and-information-working-home-families-0-4-year.

Wave 9 of the parent poll, which covers similar territory, was conducted by Ipsos MORI in July 2021. The government intends to publish this evidence as soon as possible. The government continues to work in partnership with local authorities and stakeholders to monitor sufficiency of early education and childcare provision for parents and children.