A spokesperson from the DCSF said that local authorities could decide to award the funding to settings that were graded satisfactory but which could demonstrate that they were raising standards and working towards achieving a 'good' Ofsted rating.
The Government plans to extend the free entitlement to 15 per cent of the most disadvantaged two-year-olds in every local authority in England from September (News, 13 January).
The announcement coincided with the publication of the evaluation of the free entitlement pilot scheme, where 13,500 two-year-olds from disadvantaged families were offered between 7.5 and 12.5 hours of free childcare between 2006 and 2008.
The study found that the free entitlement did not significantly improve children's cognitive or social development, their parent-child relationships or home learning environments compared to a control group of similar children. However, where children attended higher-quality settings, there was a positive impact on language ability, and on the relationship between parents and children.
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