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£340 million cash boost for Early Years

DEPARTMENT FOR CHILDREN, SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES News Release (2007/0199) issued by The Government News Network on 7 November 2007

Free nursery education for every three and four year old, backed by £340 million was announced today by Children's Minister, Beverley Hughes.

The cash will be used to extend the free early education entitlement for all 3 and 4 year-olds, from 12.5 to 15 hours each week. The extension will be rolled out across the country over the next three years, and all local authorities will offer the extended entitlement by 2010.

The funding emphasises the Government's commitment to ensuring every child gets the best possible start in life and helping thousands of families balance their work and home life through the expansion of free, flexible childcare.

Children's Minister Beverley Hughes said:

"Free nursery education is essential to supporting high quality early learning and care for children and to meet the needs of today's parents for flexible childcare.

"We want to support families as much as possible and this will help parents make difficult decisions such as returning to work.

"Children deserve the best start in life and nursery education helps them in the long term by boosting their communication, language and social skills. It is available to all those who want it and I hope to see even more children benefiting from the free hours. It also allows parents to sample childcare as a route back to work and training."

Twenty local authorities already offer 15 hours of free nursery education with £58 million invested from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, and a further 14, Hackney, Lambeth and Brent, Wolverhampton, Liverpool, Salford, Kirklees, Middlesbrough, North East Lincolnshire, Luton, Durham, Southampton, Nottingham City and Cornwall, will offer the extended entitlement from September 2008.

The remaining local authorities will have funding to deliver the 15 hours to their most disadvantaged families, from September 2009. A year later, the rollout will be completed, with every three and four year-old eligible to receive 15 hours free per week.

This funding is in addition to the more than £3bn already provided each year for the free early education entitlement as part of the Dedicated Schools Grant.

The Government also provides over £2m a day through the tax credit system to help around 400,000 families with childcare costs. The number of childcare places has doubled since 1997 to 1.3 million places.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The extension of the free entitlement and more flexible delivery will be funded through a new investment of £80m/£170m/£340m over 2008-11, which will be made available through the Standards Fund.

2. We guaranteed an extension of the free early education entitlement to 15 hours per week, 38 weeks a year by 2010 in the Ten Year Childcare Strategy. The 20 LAs are already offering the 15 hours per week of extended entitlement are: Worcestershire, Derbyshire, Leeds, Rochdale, Blackburn & Darwen, Sheffield, Telford, Hampshire, Peterborough, Gloucestershire, Haringey, Sunderland, York, Somerset, Greenwich, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Newham, Slough, Blackpool.

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