Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 24 September 2019 to Question 281570 on Children: Day Care, how many local authority areas did not meet the duty to provide sufficient childcare in the latest period for which data is available.
Answer
The Department works closely with Childcare Works, our national delivery contractor, to ensure that all local authorities provide sufficient childcare places in order to deliver free early years entitlements. Local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare and make this report available and accessible to parents. At this time, no local authority has reported that they are unable to meet their duty to provide sufficient places.
The Department’s Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey collects data on registered early years childcare places, including those in maintained schools and nurseries. Data is available at a national and regional level. A link to the survey can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2018.