Department for Education written question – answered at on 2 October 2025.
Justin Madders
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many of the school-based nursery pilots originally scheduled to open in September 2025 had opened by 9 September 2025.
Olivia Bailey
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
High quality early years is central to our mission to break down the barriers to opportunity and give every child the best possible start in life and is essential to our Plan for Change. This government is boosting availability and access through the school-based nurseries programme, supporting school led provision and private, voluntary and independent providers and childminders operating from school sites.
Phase 1 is already delivering results. We awarded £37 million to 300 schools, creating up to 6,000 new childcare places with the Majority available in the 2025/26 academic year. Schools have reported that 160 of these nurseries have opened on or before 9 September and we remain on track to have more than 4,000 additional childcare available places by the end of September.
Yes2 people think so
No0 people think not
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
