Julian raises the issue of Nursery Funding in Parliament
March 7, 2016
Today in Parliament Julian raised the issue of Nursery Funding and called for the future early years budget to be ring-fenced, ensuring nursery providers receive sufficient funding to implement the 30 hours of free childcare.
Speaking in Parliament, Julian said “I very much welcome that York is one of pilot schemes and I congratulate the Minister for all his work on this. But as the Minister knows, there is some concern amongst nursery providers over the future funding levels driven by disparity between the amount Local Authorities pay. As such would the Minister consider future ring-fencing to avoid top slicing by the Local Authorities? Could I also ask him if he would consider visiting nurseries in my constituency to see how the pilot is working?”
In response Sam Gyimah, the Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Childcare and Education stated “I would like to reassure my honourable friend that later this year we will be consulting on an early year’s national funding formula, as part of this we will set a firm expectation on Local Authority top slicing to ensure that the record investment being made in childcare is allocated fairly and reaches providers at the front line. I am particularly impressed by the innovation in childcare brought about by the Local Authority in York and that is why we chose them as one of our early implementers and I would be delighted to visit again.”
Reflecting on the Minister’s response Julian said “It is great to hear that the Minister will come to York once again to see how nursery providers implement the doubling of free entitlement. I know that many nurseries are concerned by future funding especially when we take into account additional costs such as the impending National Living Wage and workplace pensions. Therefore I look forward to the results of the funding formula consultation and I hope Local Authorities heed the Government and ensure all dedicated funding reaches providers on the front line.”
