SEND High-quality Childcare 2024-03-11
2024-03-11
TAGS
Response quality
Questions & Answers
Q1
Direct Answer
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Context
Parents are facing issues accessing free childcare hours due to fee hikes, especially affecting those with children who have special educational needs or disabilities. The government's impact assessment acknowledged potential negative impacts on provision.
What steps she is taking to help ensure the availability of high-quality childcare for children with special educational needs and disabilities?
To ensure high-quality childcare for children with special educational needs, we are investing hundreds of millions of pounds to increase hourly funding rates and the amount of dedicated additional SEND funding, such as the disability access fund, for all eligible children, and funding the training of early years special educational needs co-ordinators.
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Assessment & feedback
Response accuracy
Q2
Partial Answer
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Context
Parents are struggling to access the 15 free hours of childcare due to fee hikes, with particular issues affecting parents of children who have special educational needs or disabilities. The government's impact assessment acknowledged potential negative impacts.
Can he restate his pledge that every parent who wanted the 15 free hours for their eligible two-year-old would be able to get a place and explicitly state that they will not have to pay higher fees?
I appreciate that it must be very frustrating for the hon. Lady, who genuinely cares about childcare, to be in a party that cannot be bothered to come up with a plan for it and has had to ask someone else to write it one because it cannot think of one.
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Assessment & feedback
The specific pledge on childcare availability for children with special educational needs without fee hikes was not addressed.
Changing Subject
Criticising Opposition
Response accuracy