Issue - meetings

The outcome of the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment as required by the Childcare Act 2006 and the Department for Education (DfE) ‘Early Education and Childcare, Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities’(June 2018) was reported to Cabinet and approval was sought for the report to be published.

Sections 6(1) and 6(3) of the Act placed a statutory requirement for local authorities to secure, so far as was reasonably practicable, sufficient childcare to allow parents to work, access training or study; take into account the quality of provision to ensure there were ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ Ofsted graded places available for as many children as possible and the affordability of provision to help ensure the places were accessible to parents.  The main focus of the 2021-2022 assessment was the provision of the early years funded entitlements for two, three and four year olds.

RESOLVED – to approve the draft Childcare Sufficiency Assessment 2021 – 2022 for publication.