The minister believes ‘more could be done in terms of innovation’ to help parents save money as many early years settings do not reach the capacity of children on a Monday or Friday. Mr Gyimah was trying to boost this process along by giving evidence to the House of Lords Committee on Affordable Childcare. He suggested that PVIs can use their advantages to decrease the costs of childcare and that they should collude more with schools. Comparing school provision with that of a small PVI provider, means that they may have more space and could set up staff resources more effectively. It could also reduce the costs of childcare, if replicated.
Sam Gyimah says that nurseries should offer parents more affordable childcare.
The committee questioned Mr Gyimah about concerns that had risen on insufficient funding for the free entitlement. They argued that parents were “subsiding funded places by paying more”. Mr Gyimah responded by saying he is “very familiar with the argument” but some research required a lot of caution.
Mr Gyimah kept the identity of the research hidden however he did appear to be referring to the research carried out by the Pre-school Learning Alliance published earlier this month.
‘Providers need to structure their costs so that paid-for places are not cross-subsidising,’ he said. ‘There are settings that only deliver the free entitlement that are thriving.’
He added that after referring to the different rates that local authorities pay providers, he will “analyse and take appropriate action” against the bench marking tools used in early years settings. Early years providers would not want to offer more than the 15 free hours a week as it would result in less paid for places. Labour has said it will offer 25 hours of funded childcare a week if they are to be elected but Mr Gyimah says he does not “detect enthusiasm” from early years providers to allow more free hours.
Lord Sutherland questioned Mr Gyimah further by saying there had been ‘fairly insistent submissions from providers about the under supply’ of funding.