The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Stephen
Morgan) With permission, I will make a statement on the
Government's plans to deliver additional places in school-based
nurseries, and a clarification on Government action on so-called
top-up fees for funded childcare hours. I will also update the
House on the Government's response to the consultation on
safeguarding requirements in the early years foundation stage
framework. The Secretary of State has...Request free trial
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education ()
With permission, I will make a statement on the Government's
plans to deliver additional places in school-based nurseries, and
a clarification on Government action on so-called top-up fees for
funded childcare hours. I will also update the House on the
Government's response to the consultation on safeguarding
requirements in the early years foundation stage framework.
The Secretary of State has promised a new era of child-centred
government, working alongside the sector to deliver meaningful
long-term reform of the early years system. The Government
believe that all children deserve access to a brilliant early
education, regardless of who they are, where they come from or
their parents' income. Today marks a significant step for
thousands of families, as we begin the first stage of the
Government's plan to deliver 3,000 new or expanded school-based
nurseries. From today, primary schools can apply for a grant of
up to £150,000 from a £15 million capital funding pot to make the
changes needed for their site to accommodate a nursery.
The new or expanded nurseries are set to open across England from
the start of the next school year. We have chosen to expand
school-based nurseries because schools are at the heart of our
communities. School-based nurseries cater for a higher proportion
of children with special educational needs and disabilities, and
offer a higher share of nursery places in the most deprived
areas. To support our most vulnerable children and build on the
existing market, the funding will be available for projects that
are either school-run or delivered on the school's site by
private and voluntary providers or childminders. Schools will be
asked to work with local authorities to demonstrate local
parental demand for places. If there are primary schools that are
interested in this programme but are not currently ready or
eligible to host new nursery places, we encourage them to
register an interest for the future. We expect funding to be
allocated to successful schools in spring 2025 to support
delivery of the first nursery places from September 2025.
As we expand the childcare system, it is crucial that early
education and childcare remains fair and accessible to all
parents. That is why we are taking action to address situations
where parents are facing high and additional charges on top of
the funded entitlement hours. Those charges, which may include
mandatory fees for nappies, lunch, or additional hours, should
not be a condition for accessing a funded place. The vast
majority of providers are working hard to make sure that parents
can access their entitlements, but any sort of mandatory
additional charging or preferential treatment towards parents who
purchase optional extras is not acceptable. Over the next few
months, my Department will engage with local authorities,
providers and parents to develop and clarify guidance on this
issue, including on so-called “top-up fees”. We will support
local authorities to protect parents from overcharging.
I turn to new childcare entitlements. In September, working
parents of children aged nine months and above were able to
access 15 hours per week of Government-funded early education for
the first time. I can confirm that over 320,000 additional
children are now accessing the new entitlement. Delivering the
scheme has not been without difficulty and owes much to the
collaboration between local authorities, providers and the work
of my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, who has made
ensuring the roll-out a priority. At the same time, we are
helping the sector to deliver the necessary places for September
2025. This final, more challenging phase of the roll-out will
increase the funded childcare entitlement of working parents to
30 hours per week.
Trust matters in politics, which is why I want to reiterate this
Government's commitment to honouring the promise made by the last
Government to deliver these entitlements, but the House should be
in no doubt that this will be an extremely difficult task. There
remains a significant shortage of staff and places. The
Government's spending watchdog has said that, in order to deliver
the roll-out, in some parts of the country we will need to double
or even triple capacity in order to provide the additional hours.
There are substantial gaps to fill, left behind knowingly by the
Conservative party. We must be honest with families about the
fact that in some parts of England, while parents may receive the
hours they were promised, they may not get their first choice of
nursery or childminder.
I assure the House that we will continue to work tirelessly to
bridge the gaps in time for next September, and our plans to
expand primary school-based nurseries will help us to deliver
these entitlements. Our priority is to provide high-quality
education and care for children while ensuring their safety, in
order to give every child the best start in life.
Today the Department published its official response to the
consultation on proposals to strengthen safeguarding requirements
in the statutory early years foundation stage framework. These
reforms are set to be implemented from September 2025. The
changes to be made to the framework are based on lessons learned
from tragic past events, responses to our consultation, and
feedback from safeguarding experts and the sector. The
consultation received 1,470 responses, with strong support for
all the proposals. The Department will therefore implement all
the proposals, including those on safer recruitment, child
absences, safer eating, safeguarding training, and paediatric
first aid training. There will also be new proposals on providing
employment references and supporting whistleblowing. These
changes will formalise existing best practices, and will ensure
that all early years educators have the knowledge and support
that they need to deliver safe, high-quality early education and
childcare.
As many parents know, childminders are a key part of the early
education and childcare market, providing choice and flexibility.
We are already delivering childminder start-up grants to help new
childminders with the costs of registering, and on 1 November we
will introduce new flexibilities for childminders to help them
join and stay in the profession. These changes will create a new
category of childminder who can work entirely from non-domestic
premises. The total number of people who can work together under
a childminder's registration will increase from three to four.
Childminders will also have more flexibility to operate for more
time outside domestic premises, for instance from a community
hall or school. These new flexibilities will further support the
Government's commitment to rolling out expanded childcare
entitlements and giving children the best start in life.
Parents' need for childcare does not stop when their children
reach primary school age. Since July, we have allocated more than
£130 million to local authorities to begin delivering these new
places to parents of primary school age children as part of the
national wraparound childcare programme. Initial delivery plans
indicate that this programme will deliver up to 200,000 new
childcare places, at either end of the school day, available in
over 50% of all primary schools. However, we want to go further
to support hard-working families and tackle disadvantage, which
is why we committed ourselves in our manifesto to introducing
free breakfast clubs in every primary school.
Breakfast clubs can have a tremendously positive impact in
helping children to arrive at school on time and ready to learn,
while also helping working parents to have more choices in the
workplace. From April 2025, free breakfast clubs will be
available in up to 750 early adopter schools. That will be part
of the test-and-learn phase, but new breakfast clubs, once rolled
out nationally, will be available to every state-funded school
with primary school age children, and will give parents more
affordable childcare choices while also helping families with the
cost of living. Children will be able to start the school day
ready to learn, which will give them the best start in life and
in their education.
This Government are determined to break down barriers to
opportunity. That must start before school, with high-quality
early education that is both available and affordable. We
inherited a pledge without a plan, so this Labour Government must
work to deliver the change that families need. We will deliver
places in new nurseries, tackle unfair “top-up fees”, and ensure
that every child can have the best start in life. I commend this
statement to the House.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms )
Order. I should explain to newer colleagues that interventions
are not made during statements by Ministers or responses from
shadow Ministers. I now call the shadow Minister to respond to
the Minister's statement.
12.34pm
Mr Gagan (South West Hertfordshire)
(Con)
I thank the Minister for giving me advance sight of his
statement.
Labour Members may take this opportunity to create a fictitious
narrative about the alleged failures of the former Government on
early years and childcare, but it will not wash with us and it
will not wash with the British public. That is simply because our
record on childcare is strong, so let me take this opportunity to
remind the Government and the House exactly what it is.
In 2010, we extended the three and four-year-old entitlement,
commonly taken as 15 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year. In
2013, we introduced 15 hours of free early education a week for
disadvantaged two-year-olds. In 2017, we doubled the three and
four-year-old entitlement to 30 hours per week for working
parents, as well as introducing tax-free childcare, which meant
that for every £8 people paid in, the Government would
automatically add £2 to support childcare costs—on top of the
free-hours entitlement. In March 2023, we announced the biggest
expansion of childcare by a UK Government in history. It was
intended to give working parents access to 30 hours of free
childcare a week, from when their children were nine months old
until they started school, and to save families an average of
£6,900 a year. Our reason for doing that was simple: childcare is
one of the biggest costs facing working families today, as well
as one of the biggest barriers to parents returning to work if
and when they wish to do so. I want to take this opportunity to
thank early years providers, local authorities, membership
bodies, and other key partners who have made delivering this
possible.
I welcome the fact that the Government have finally agreed that
rolling out our childcare expansion will empower parents to make
the choice that is best for them, and are committed to doing so.
I am, however, disappointed that they did not do more to spread
awareness among parents of the childcare entitlements that became
available in September. Will the Minister tell us whether there
was any unspent budget for this, and will he now commit himself
to increasing the publicising of childcare roll-outs so that
parents are rightly aware of their entitlements?
Of course the Opposition welcome the expansion of childcare and
support the idea of utilising unused space in schools, which
provides a single point of contact for parents with multiple
children, but will the Minister tell us how many childcare places
the first 300 new or expanded nurseries will provide? The
Government previously pledged to deliver 3,000 nurseries to
support 100,000 childcare places. What will be the timeline for
the delivery of the rest of those nurseries, and are the
Government still committed to the creation of 100,000 childcare
places across the country in the long term?
The Education Secretary has confirmed that early years and
childcare are her No. 1 priority, which I wholeheartedly support.
However, the Government's education tax will mean that children
in classes in which one child is five years old, or is due to
turn five by the end of the year, will be subject to the
Government's retrograde education tax regardless of their age.
Will the Minister confirm that that is indeed a broken promise?
How can the British public trust the Education Secretary's word
that she will prioritise early years and childcare when she has
already broken a promise within the first 100 days of a Labour
Government?
I thank the shadow Minister for his response, and welcome him to
his place. I know that he will want to be a keen champion for the
early years sector, and I was glad to hear him welcome the update
that I have given to the House.
As I said in my statement, Labour is committed to the delivery of
expanded entitlement across Government. The last Government left
significant challenges, but we are not shirking that
responsibility. With Labour, the early years sector can rest
assured that we will be working tirelessly to deliver a wider sea
change in early education, as well as high and rising standards
throughout the education system.
Let me now deal with some of the hon. Gentleman's specific
points. It is clear to me from my consultation and engagement
with parents and providers so far that we have inherited a pledge
without a plan, and the consequences of that are inherited
delivery challenges relating to workforce and places. I
appreciate the points that the hon. Gentleman made about the
workforce; I believe by resetting the relationship with the
workforce, we can have a much more positive relationship with the
sector in the future.
Over 300,000 children have benefited from the entitlement offer
since September this year, which demonstrates that we are
actively engaging and working with parents to promote
opportunities to take up the offer. We will continue to do
so.
On school-based nurseries, the pilot during the testing phase is
for 300 places from April. Our ambition is for 3,000 places over
the course of this Parliament. I look forward to working with the
hon. Member constructively to bring about the change that early
years education so desperately needs.
Ms (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)
I thank the Minister for all the work he is doing to right a much
overdue wrong. It is extraordinary to hear the shadow Minister
trying to claim credit for something this Government have finally
done today, putting to rest the concerns that many of us tried to
raise with the previous Government. I thank the Minister for
being honest enough to finally publish the data about the numbers
of people we need working with our children to make these plans
happen. The previous Government always avoided the question and
now we can see why, because the data shows that we will need an
extra 35,000 people working in our childcare sector by autumn
next year to fulfil all our pledges, and an extra 6,000 by the
end of this year. Will the Minister tell us more about his
workforce strategy? We take our hats off to the people who look
after our children. I know this Government want to invest in
them, but we need a lot more of them. What can we do to make that
happen?
I thank my hon. Friend for her tireless work speaking up for
children, young people and parents up and down the country. As
she rightly says, we are working hard with the early years sector
to recruit the staff we need, including through the extended
recruitment campaign Do Something Big, so that we attract more
people to work in the early education system and ensure there are
good training pathways into careers in early education. We are
resetting relationships with staff across the education sector to
ensure they are respected and valued for the important work they
do. School-based nurseries currently have lower turnover and have
the option to use some staff flexibly between reception and early
years in primary schools. I am looking forward to cracking on
with delivering on those commitments.
Madam Deputy Speaker
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, who has two
minutes.
(St Neots and Mid
Cambridgeshire) (LD)
I am suffering because of the length of time that my hon. Friend
the Member for Eastbourne () took earlier. I will try
to stick to two minutes, Madam Deputy Speaker.
I thank the Minister for sight of his statement. The Liberal
Democrats believe that flexible, affordable childcare and early
years education is a critical part of our society. High-quality
early years education is the best possible investment in the
future and contributes to economic performance in the present as
well. Most importantly, it is the most effective way to narrow
the gap between rich and poor children.
Broadly, we welcome the Government's promise to expand access to
affordable childcare and early years education. Under the
previous Government, we saw what happens when big promises on
childcare are not backed up by the funding and resources needed
to deliver them. The Conservative Government's plans risked
exacerbating the problems that parents already faced: a lack of
childminder places and eye-watering fees.
The number of childminders in England fell by an estimated 26%
between 2018 and 2023. Last year, a report found that 35% of
nursery managers would limit the number of places they offered
unless the Government helped with recruitment. I note from the
Minister's statement that the Government are taking steps to
improve recruitment and retention in the childcare and early
years sector, but does the Minister agree that a career strategy
is also needed for those working in early years, including a
training programme, so that all those working with young children
are properly trained and supported? Will he give assurances that
the places announced today will be properly supported by
committing to a full review of the rates paid to providers for
free hours, to ensure they cover the actual costs of delivering
that high-quality childcare?
I thank the hon. Member for his statement and welcome him to his
place. As he identified, there are some core challenges for the
early years sector in delivering the Government's agenda to
expand childcare entitlement. As I made clear in my statement,
today's announcement sets out key steps we are looking to take to
deliver for children and ensure that they have safe, supported
systems to help them succeed in life. I know that he will support
our ambition of ensuring that every child, no matter where they
come from, can succeed in life.
The hon. Member was right to focus on disadvantage, which is a
key priority for me as a Minister. If we are serious about
breaking down barriers to opportunity, we need to think about the
impact of the scheme on the most disadvantaged in our society.
The number of childminders involved in the system has halved over
the years; we want to reset that relationship. The new
flexibilities announced today will make a big difference.
Finally, he will appreciate that funding is a matter for the
spending review.
(Southend West and
Leigh) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for finally bringing forward a realistic
plan for expanding childcare. Residents, and certainly parents,
in Southend West and Leigh will welcome the announcement. Will he
provide assurances that childminders, who are a vital part of
childcare arrangements, will still be a key focus? Will he give a
further idea of how they will be supported?
Childminders are a key part of the childcare market, providing
more choice and flexibility for parents. From next month, the
Government plan to implement new flexibilities to help
childminders join and stay in the profession. That will include
enabling childminders to work from non-domestic premises, as I
mentioned in my statement, and increasing the number of
childminders who can work together; that will improve children's
access to new experiences out of the home and encourage
socialisation. As we seek to deliver a sea change in our approach
to early years, we want partners, including childminders, to work
closely with us to push for better.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms )
I call the Father of the House.
Sir (Gainsborough) (Con)
There are countless millions of free childminders available. The
love between a grandparent and a grandchild is the purest love:
love without responsibility. I declare a personal interest. Will
the Minister assure me that he will incentivise grandparents to
look after their grandchildren, and that nothing in the tax or
benefits system will discriminate against mothers who want to
look after their children full time? Will he build on the
Conservatives' scheme of transferrable allowances?
Families have an important role to play in supporting children in
the first few years of their life. We are committed to breaking
down barriers to opportunity for every child, in every part of
the country, and our childcare system has a key role to play in
that.
(Telford) (Lab)
As a former school governor and a dad, I see the amazing work
that preschools and nurseries do up and down the country. These
measures will be a key way to break down barriers to opportunity
and get the country growing, as the Minister says. Will the
Minister commit to ensuring that children in care and the
children of those in the armed forces are prioritised for the
additional care places? Will he reassure childminders that we are
on their side, because childminders in Telford have missed the
memo from the Government on this set of improvements?
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms )
Order. I remind hon. Members to ask short questions.
Since joining the House, my hon. Friend has already become a
champion for children and young people in his constituency. He
raises a number of points—about childminders, support for
children in care, and military families. As I represent the heart
and home of the Royal Navy, I take those matters very seriously.
I will certainly consider the points that he raises as we design
a system fit for the future.
Greg (Mid Buckinghamshire) (Con)
I am incredibly proud of the previous Government's massive
expansion of the childcare offer, and I am genuinely pleased that
the new Government are carrying on with it. When it comes to the
expansion of in-school nurseries, what mechanism will be put in
place to ensure that rural communities, like mine in Mid
Buckinghamshire, get a locked in, fair share of those new
facilities?
Our party wants to govern the whole country. In the election in
July, we won many rural seats, and we will take the views and
ambitions of rural communities seriously. If the hon. Gentleman
wants to raise particular points with me to ensure that the
roll-out works well in his constituency, I am very happy to meet
him to discuss those issues.
(Hitchin) (Lab)
With so many families struggling to find affordable childcare
across my Hitchin constituency, I really welcome the Minister's
announcement today, and I will encourage local schools to take
part in the pilot scheme. I particularly welcome the focus on the
exclusionary nature of top-up fees. Those fees run counter to the
nature of the scheme, and all too often leave those most in need
of affordable childcare unable to access it. Will the Minister
assure us that as he takes the vital, robust action needed to
clamp down on top-up fees, he will work with the sector more
widely to ensure the viability of providers, who were all too
often left on the brink by the previous Government's
mismanagement of childcare?
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. I have heard that
message loud and clear from parents in constituencies up and down
the country. Where providers seek to put up fresh barriers to
access, we will not tolerate them. We will make guidance in this
area as clear and consistent as possible to support hard-pressed
families as we deliver this sea change in early years
provision.
(Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the Minister for this welcome news. Within seven months,
my party colleagues in Northern Ireland have designed a scheme to
slash childcare bills by 15%, saving parents up to £660 per
month. The Northern Ireland childcare subsidy scheme has saved
parents about £1 million in the month of September alone. Some
13,000 children signed up in the first four weeks. That is DUP
delivery. Does the Minister have any plans for implementing
greater support on a UK-wide basis, so that better communication
and better partnership can blossom and grow?
I always enjoy responding to questions from the hon. Gentleman.
On my visit in April to Belfast, I heard that childcare is a huge
issue for the community. I assure him that there is more we can
do to support our colleagues in Northern Ireland. We have already
committed to a meeting with the relevant Minister to discuss
these issues.
(Southampton Itchen)
(Lab)
I thank the Minister for his statement and welcome these
measures, which will do an awful lot to help hard-pressed
families in my constituency. Does he agree that the Conservatives
suffer from something of a blind spot in looking back at their
record, which contains years in which funding fell short of the
delivery costs? They ignore the exodus of early years
professionals and the fact that 1,400 Sure Start centres have
been closed, yet they continue to believe that we have never had
it so good. Will the Minister join me in thanking early years
professionals in Southampton Itchen, who can finally count on a
Government who are child-centred, and could he outline how these
measures will be targeted at so-called childcare deserts?
I thank my hon. Friend for his question and congratulate him on
being selected for the Select Committee. I agree that we should
be shocked by the Conservatives' response to today's statement.
This Government are focused on the issues that make the biggest
difference to working people across the country, so that we can
deliver the change we need. Today's announcement is an example of
how we will go about doing that. I am very keen to meet my hon.
Friend to discuss these issues further, and I appreciate his
thanks to those in the sector for the hard work that they do in
his constituency.
(Burnley) (Lab/Co-op)
I hugely welcome the news about funding for schools, children and
parents, and for school-based nurseries in particular. I hope the
Minister will look fondly on applications from Burnley, Padiham
and Brierfield in due course. I wonder whether he thinks that the
capital allocation in the statement is sufficient for his
ambition. Does the Minister agree that this Government are
delivering on their promises within their first 100 days?
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. I am absolutely
delighted to hear of his enthusiasm for the scheme, which will
make a huge difference to communities up and down our country. We
are starting a test-and-learn phase in April; the roll-out will
be in September. We want to learn from that approach, and I would
be delighted to work with him on this matter.
(Penrith and
Solway) (Lab)
I strongly welcome the proposed expansion of childcare, which I
am sure will help many families in my Penrith and Solway
constituency. Can the Minister outline how this measure will be
targeted at the areas of the country with the greatest need, and
at areas that are considered to be childcare deserts?
We are absolutely committed to being a child-centred Government,
and it is vital that we deliver the programme in the areas in
most need. That means making sure that we understand where there
are gaps in places and in the workforce, and we look forward to
working closely with the sector to ensure that the scheme makes
the biggest difference in communities that need it the most.
Mr (York Outer) (Lab)
This announcement is particularly fitting, as my son started
preschool today. Many hard-working parents in York Outer welcome
today's news, but many feel that some providers are taking the
biscuit when it comes to funded hours, abnormalities, unfair
top-up fees and even restrictions on the days of the week on
which funded hours can be used. Will the Minister meet me so that
I can pass on York Outer parents' concerns about the funded hours
scheme?
I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend, and I wish his son good
luck as he starts nursery today.
(Newcastle-under-Lyme)
(Lab)
I have sore calves after this morning, Madam Deputy Speaker. A
child-centred Government are exactly what people in
Newcastle-under-Lyme want, but the disgraceful state of special
educational needs and disability provision in our schools means
that we have more to do. How does this announcement, which I
welcome, sit alongside our commitment to overhauling the SEND
system?
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. We are reviewing the
early years SEND funding arrangements to ensure that they are
suitable for supporting the needs of children with SEND. For
children with more complex needs and an education, health and
care plan, funding is available via the high needs block of the
dedicated schools grant. Local authorities should have SEND
inclusion funding for children with low and emerging needs.
Disability access funding is also designed to support disabled
children's access to entitlements.
(Mid Cheshire) (Lab)
We can probably all agree that every child should have the
opportunity to reach their full potential, regardless of their
background and circumstances, who they know and where they come
from. None of that should shape people's lives more than their
talent, creativity or determination. I welcome the emphasis on
the importance of early years provision. Particularly in these
years after the pandemic, measures such as early speech and
language interventions can make all the difference. Does the
Minister agree that now is the time to take early years provision
seriously?
I thank my hon. Friend for his question; he is absolutely right.
The pandemic had a huge impact on children's lives, and our
investment in early interventions around speech and language is
absolutely key. I look forward to working with him to deliver
that successfully in his constituency.
Madam Deputy Speaker
The final zinger of a question is from .
(Makerfield) (Lab)
We'll see! I am intrigued to hear Conservative Members' attempts
to defend their record. Moments ago, the hon. Member for
Christchurch (Sir ) said that the right hon.
Member for North West Essex (Mrs Badenoch) is “preoccupied with
her children” and cannot be the Leader of the Opposition while
spending time with her family. This comes after she herself said
that maternity leave has “gone too far”. Does the Minister agree
that whereas this Government are working hard to back the hope
that children represent, Conservative Members are, in the end,
the same old Tories?
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. Early years provision
was cast off under the Tories, and we are bringing it back into
the fold as a crucial part of our education system. We are
committed to giving every young person the best start in life,
and I look forward to working with him to make that happen.
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