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Nurseries and Early Years Settings
03 December 2020
Lead MP
Steve Brine
Winchester
Con
Responding Minister
Vicky Ford
Tags
EconomyTaxationEmploymentChildren & FamiliesLocal Government
Word Count: 14238
Other Contributors: 13
At a Glance
Steve Brine raised concerns about nurseries and early years settings in Westminster Hall. A government minister responded.
Key Requests to Government:
I ask the Government to address the structural problems in the current system for childcare and early years funding through an independent, meaningful review. This should ensure long-term sustainability by increasing funding rates in line with rising costs and providing a permanent part of the funding settlement rather than year-by-year add-ons. The hon. Member calls on the Minister to commit to reforming the allocation of supplementary funding and bringing forward proposals for consultation as soon as possible. She also urges the Government to deliver a fairer distribution based on need rather than historical accident, and to secure the long-term funding settlement promised in 2017.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Lead Contributor
The early years sector is experiencing a form of market failure exacerbated by the pandemic, leading to serious underfunding and closures. Prior to the pandemic, there was a 153% increase in nursery closures since the introduction of the 30 hours' free childcare policy. The funding gap for settings serving two-year-olds was estimated at £824 million before the pandemic, with a 37% funding deficit between delivery costs and rates paid to providers. Many providers are struggling despite being allowed to remain open due to increased costs and decreased revenues. The hon. Member for Belfast East is concerned about the financial difficulties faced by maintained nursery schools in her constituency, particularly those without transitional supplementary funding since the introduction of the national funding formula. She highlights that these schools have been kept afloat by this funding but argues that its allocation based on historic discrepancies from 2016 has left some areas like Barnet in serious financial difficulties. The situation is described as desperate after three years of waiting for a long-term funding settlement.
Caroline Nokes
Con
Romsey and Southampton North
Childcare providers in Hampshire face significant financial challenges during the pandemic, with one provider running at a loss of £1,000 per month. Funding for childcare has not kept pace with increased costs, resulting in average losses of 75p per child per hour. Women need quality childcare to balance work and home responsibilities.
Damian Hinds
Con
East Hampshire
Acknowledged the importance of nurseries and early years settings in child development, supporting parents, and noted specific initiatives like Bushy Leaze nursery school. Welcomed government commitments to early years education and childcare but highlighted financial difficulties, welcoming £44 million support while calling for regular analysis of cost structures and long-term visibility in funding. Emphasized the need for a geographically distributed network of maintained nursery schools and use of primary school settings with year-round provision. Advocated for a people plan focusing on T-levels programme and parental engagement through campaigns like Hungry Little Minds.
David Simmonds
Con
Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
Paid tribute to early years teams for their efforts during the lockdown. Highlighted the need for more funding in early childhood education compared to secondary education. Criticised some providers' predatory business practices and called for better workforce planning and a long-term strategy. Suggests that early years funding should be separated from school funding cycles to ensure more flexibility and sustainability in addressing issues like staff shortages due to the need for smaller groups during the pandemic.
Jim Shannon
DUP
Strangford
Mr Shannon thanked the hon. Member for Winchester and expressed his appreciation of the Library briefing, which highlighted that a quarter of private nurseries might have been operating at a significant deficit during national lockdown compared to 11% before the pandemic. He discussed the challenges faced by childcare providers in his constituency since March due to the coronavirus outbreak and emphasized the need for investment to deal with high levels of provision expected from them, including transportation and paying workers a living wage. Shannon also cited an Early Years Alliance survey indicating that only a quarter of providers surveyed expected to make a profit between now and March 2021 and that one in six early years providers could close by Christmas without additional funding.
Joy Morrissey
Con
Beaconsfield
Ms Morrissey highlighted the importance of early intervention in reducing poverty and improving life chances, citing a study that predicted annual savings of £15 billion from better early years intervention. She discussed challenges faced by families during the pandemic, including fathers' limited engagement with midwives and health visitors. Morrissey also emphasized the role of family hubs and children's centres in providing comprehensive support to strengthen families and prevent breakdowns.
Kieran Mullan
Con
Bexhill and Battle
Nursery and early years providers are vital for parents to work and children's development. Many struggled financially during lockdown despite supporting key workers, with some closing down. The 2019 Education Committee report highlighted the positive impact of early years education on disadvantaged children. Westminster Nursery School in Crewe provides support to a deprived area but still faces funding uncertainties. Supplementary funding worth up to £23 million is welcome but does not address long-term financial shortfalls and lack of standardised approach for funding.
Laura Farris
Con
Newbury
She discussed the difficulty nurseries face in providing high-quality, qualified staff due to financial constraints. One nursery lost a qualified member of staff and could only afford a zero-hours contract replacement. She highlighted that nurseries entered the covid crisis with significant deficits due to lack of funding certainty, resulting in closures or near-closures in her constituency.
Rachel Hopkins
Lab
Luton South and South Bedfordshire
Thanked early years staff for their dedication during the pandemic, highlighted the work of maintained nurseries in Luton, including Hart Hill Nursery School which supports 96 children with complex needs. Emphasised the need for long-term funding to maintain these services and expressed frustration over denied reimbursement requests despite initial indications from DFE. Park Hill Nursery School has divided its classrooms and created a new classroom in the library area to maintain smaller groups, which increases staffing pressure. This is due to the lack of additional funding for covid security measures.
Rushanara Ali
Lab
Bethnal Green and Stepney
I reminded hon. Members about changes to the call list system, social distancing rules, microphone sanitisation procedures, one-way systems around the room, and seating arrangements in Westminster Hall.
Sarah Owen
Lab
Luton North
The hon. Member for Luton North highlights the immediate crisis facing nursery schools due to the pandemic, noting that nurseries have stayed open throughout without reimbursement for their covid costs. She raises concerns about local Flying Start children's centres in Luton facing closure after the council was forced to find £22 million savings. The member pleads with the Government to meet and work with them to save these vital services.
Stephen Timms
Lab
East Ham
There is an early years crisis with a market failure leading to the closure of childcare providers. Provider numbers fell by 500 in just three months this year, and more than half of group-based providers expect to close within a year. Maintained nurseries do great work supporting children with special educational needs and disadvantaged families but need better funding.
Acknowledged the contributions of nursery schools in his constituency, especially during the pandemic. Emphasized the importance of early years investment for future economic benefits. Advocated for prioritizing funding for early education despite financial constraints.
Tulip Siddiq
Lab
Hampstead and Highgate
Expressed concern about the fragility of the early years sector and highlighted its exclusion from various forms of covid funding. Mentioned that nurseries with rateable values over £15,000 did not qualify for larger covid grants and many part-time or recently started childminders were excluded from help through the self-employment income support scheme.
Government Response
Vicky Ford
Government Response
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Winchester on securing this really important debate, and I thank all colleagues for taking part; it shows how much we care about the early years.
We should be proud of our early years providers. Some 96% of early education settings are now rated good or outstanding by Ofsted—an increase from 74% back in 2012. A child's early years are absolutely crucial for their development, and we have made a difference for children with the latest early years foundation stage profile results showing that the proportion of all children reaching a good level of development is now 72%. Since 2013, the attainment gap at age five has also narrowed.
We plan an unprecedented investment of £3.6 billion in free childcare places this year, including universal 15 hours for three and four-year-olds and 15 hours for disadvantaged two-year-olds since 2013, benefitting more than 1 million disadvantaged children. An extra 15 hours was introduced in 2017 by the Conservative Government for working parents with three and four-year-olds; an estimated 345,700 children took up these places in 2020.
During the pandemic, we prioritised childcare settings for reopening on 1 June, continued to pay local authorities for free childcare at pre-covid levels since March even if providers had to close due to the pandemic. Providers were eligible for the coronavirus job retention scheme and childminders could use the self-employment income support scheme. We froze Ofsted fees for 2020-21 and early years staff have been prioritised for coronavirus tests.
In the next financial year, local authorities will be able to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers due to a £44 million funding boost from the Chancellor announced during the spending review. This will pay for a rate increase that is higher than the cost nurseries may face from the uplift to the national living wage in April.
For maintained nursery schools, we provided £60 million this year and the Chancellor has secured it for the coming financial year. We continue to consider what is required to ensure a clear long-term picture of funding for all maintained nursery schools.
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About Westminster Hall Debates
Westminster Hall debates are a chance for MPs to raise important issues affecting their constituents and get a response from a government minister. Unlike Prime Minister's Questions, these debates are more in-depth and collaborative. The MP who secured the debate speaks first, other MPs can contribute, and a minister responds with the government's position.