Public sector nursery provision
The petition of residents of Salford,
Declares that public sector nurseries consistently provide
above-average quality of provision, provide superior levels
of school-ready pupils, Special Educational Need provision
and services to areas of high deprivation; further that in
comparison to the private sector, public sector nurseries
provide more accurate tracking information to schools, more
affordable services and a better standard of early education;
further that new conditions imposed by the Department for
Education have thrown many nurseries and Early Years services
across the country into financial peril, both in the public
and private sector; further that local authorities are now
unable to use the vast majority of the Dedicated Schools
Grant for their own Early Years provisions; and further notes
that the £55 million fund set aside to support Maintained
Nursery Schools is not available for Local Authority
nurseries which are not headed up by a head-teacher and which
lack trained teaching staff.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons
urges the Government to do all in its power to value and to
support the continuation of public sector nursery provision,
including reversing the changes to the Dedicated Schools
Grant and changing the way that the £55 million supplementary
funding for Maintained Nursery Schools is used to make
available to all Local Authority nurseries.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented
by , Official
Report, 17 July 2018; Vol. 645, c. 374.]
Observations from the Parliamentary
Under-Secretary of State for Education (Nadhim Zahawi):
The Government are spending more on childcare support than
any other Government—around £6 billion a year by 2019-20.
This includes an additional £1 billion a year to deliver the
childcare entitlements. Our funding rates are based on
evidence from our “Review of Childcare Costs”, which was
described as “thorough and wide ranging” by the National
Audit Office.
The Government also introduced the Early Years National
Funding Formula (EYNFF) to allocate their record investment
fairly and transparently and ensure that early years
providers can deliver free childcare on a sustainable and
high-quality basis. Local authorities are also required to
pass through 95% of early years funding directly to providers
to ensure it reaches the frontline. The Government consulted
extensively prior to introducing the EYNFF and received broad
consensus on the reforms they introduced (including the 95%
pass through).
The Government’s 30 hours programme is rolling out
successfully with more than 340,000 children aged three and
four years old benefiting from a 30 hours place throughout
the first year of delivery. This is
saving families up to £5,000 per year in total and
making it easier for them to work and earn more in the years
before their children start school.
It is for Salford City Council to decide how best to fund
their providers to meet their duty to provide sufficient
places to meet parental demand. We are pleased that there are
no reports of 30 hours sufficiency issues in the Salford City
local authority area.
All authorities have the option of requesting flexibility
around the 95% passthrough requirement and the Government
would be willing to consider such an application from Salford
City Council for the 2019-20 financial year.
With regard to Maintained Nursery Schools, they are required
to employ a qualified teacher and a headteacher, as well as
to be constituted as a school, which means they typically
incur higher costs than other types of early years providers
that are not required to meet these obligations. In
recognition of these requirements, we are providing
supplementary funding to protect existing Maintained Nursery
School funding rates until 2019-20.
The Government have also had extensive discussions with
Salford City Council. On 16 May 2018, I met Salford MPs, the
Mayor of Salford, and representatives from Unison, parents
and staff to discuss five of Salford’s council-maintained
nurseries. I have also met , the Mayor
of Greater Manchester Combined Authority, to
discuss the same matter. Alongside these meetings, DfE
officials have had ongoing constructive communication with
council officers to discuss the options being explored
locally and to provide advice and support.
We are happy to continue this dialogue with local authority
officers as they consider the options available to them.
