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Please find a comment below from the Early Years Alliance on research published today by Frontier Economics on government plans to convert spare primary school capacity in England into nurseries.  The research, which can be accessed , highlighted that, in a number of locations, there is insufficient capacity to meet demand.

Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said:

"While the government is absolutely right to focus on increasing capacity in the early years, as this research shows, plans to boost nursery spaces in primary schools alone are highly unlikely to meet the ever-increasing demand for early years places.  

"It is clear, therefore, that if the government is truly serious about ensuring that all families are able to access places when and where they need them, ministers must look beyond schools and focus on supporting the sector’s existing infrastructure of private, voluntary and independent providers, who currently deliver the vast majority of early years provision in this country. This means making sure that this vital part of the sector has both the funding and the staff levels needed to be able to meet the rapidly growing demand for places.  

"Ultimately, if the government’s promise to parents of more funded care and education is ever to be realised, encouraging schools to open new early years provision can only ever form part of much wider plans to support the growth of the entirety of the sector."