Nursery World - MPs to tell ministers time is running out to save nursery schools

Cross-party MPs will warn ministers that all of England’s maintained nursery schools are at real risk of closure, threatening the life chances of vulnerable children, in a debate in the main chamber of Parliament today.

It comes as new analysis suggests the ‘cash crisis’ for maintained nursery schools is growing, with settings set to lose a third of their funding next year.

MPs including Labour’s Lucy Powell, Ruth George and Harriet Harman and Conservatives Robert Halfon - chair of the Education Select Committee - Lucy Allan and William Wragg will come together to debate the sustainability of maintained nursery schools.

They will warn that waiting for the Spending Review, a date for which has not been set, to find a funding solution past 2020, as suggested by ministers, will be too late for many settings.

During the backbench business committee debate, the MPs will vote for a motion for Government to safeguard the future of maintained nursery schools by guaranteeing transitional funding after 2020 as soon as possible, while a long-term plan to ensure their future viability is found by the Comprehensive Spending Review.

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