The facility, open to the children of MPs and their staff, peers and Whitehall civil servants, is reportedly breaking even – despite occupancy rates of around 20 per cent lower than the accepted minimum for survival in the sector.
The House of Commons Nursery Annual Report 2014/15, details a ten per cent rise from 58 per cent occupancy at the close of the previous year, when it was making a loss of around £32,000.
The setting has been the focus of some controversy, after £557,000 of taxpayers’ money was spent transforming it from its previous incarnation Bellamy’s Bar.
The nursery's most outspoken critic, Labour MP Roger Godsiff previously claimed the ‘subsidised and lavish facility’ had run up losses and capital costs of well over £1million ‘at a time when public nurseries and Sure Start centres are closing’.
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