PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Children: Day Care (7 October 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on the introduction of the 30 hour childcare extended entitlement of the Childcare survey 2020, published by Coram.

Asked by:
Karin Smyth (Labour)

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, and ministers at the department, meet regularly with colleagues across government, including HM Treasury, to discuss the Department for Education's agenda. Future funding for the early years is being considered as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review process, alongside wider public expenditure.

The survey published by Coram is part of the evidence base available for consideration in the Spending Review and is one of several pieces of research on the provider market. We continue to monitor the market closely through a range of research projects which provide insight into various aspects of the childcare and provider market.

The department carries out its own regular research on the cost of delivering childcare. The 2018 provider finances report is published here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/provider-finances-evidence-from-early-years-providers.

The Department for Education is due to publish a 2019 provider finances report in the autumn.

The provider finances reports include data on the total coast and total income of delivering childcare, the variation in unit costs (an approximate measure of the average cost per child per hour for all children in the setting) and staff hourly pay, and patterns in parent-paid hourly fees for parents.

The 2019 Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers includes information on the costs of providing childcare and is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/845080/SCEYP_2019_Main_Report_Nov19.pdf.

Answered by:
Vicky Ford (Conservative)
15 October 2020