SAVE OUR NURSERIES CAMPAIGN

That this House recognises that private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers fulfil a vital role in the care and education of pre-school children; welcomes the work of the Save Our Nurseries Campaign; notes that the previous administration's Code of Practice on the provision of free nursery education and the Early Years Single Funding Formulae developed by local authorities threaten PVI providers' viability by imposing price controls and have forced, and will continue to force, providers to close or opt out of providing funded places, leading to a loss of funded nursery places and a two-tier pre-school system; requests the Government to revise the Code of Practice to allow flexibility to providers to continue to charge additional top-up fees to meet the shortfall between the funding of the entitlement and the actual cost of providing a place; and requires the entitlement truly to promote choice and diversity for parents to enable children to attend high quality provisions.