DfE ordered to explain how funding rates were calculated
Katy Morton
Friday, October 25, 2019
The Department for Education (DfE) has been ordered by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to disclose withheld information on how current early years funding levels were determined.
The DfE has been given until the Thursday 14 November to provide the information to the Early Years Alliance, which has repeatedly asked for disclosure of the information.
In December 2018, the Alliance filed a freedom of information (FOI) request to the DfE asking for the calculations, or broader thinking underpinning current early years funding levels. As part of the request, it asked for information on exactly how the Government concluded that the funding rates for three- and four-year-old places, announced in 2015, were sufficient to cover rising business costs up until 2020.
In response, the DfE confirmed to the Alliance that it held relevant ‘spreadsheet, presentation and briefing documentation’, but rejected the FOI request on the grounds that the information formed part of the development of Government policy and the need to keep it private outweighed the public interest in releasing it. An appeal by the Alliance was rejected by the Government on the same grounds.
The Alliance then took the case to the ICO, which has now formally rejected the DfE’s argument, and ordered it to disclose the withheld information to the Alliance.
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said, ‘We are very pleased that the ICO has ruled in our favour and ordered the DfE to back up its repeated claims that existing levels of childcare funding are sufficient with actual evidence.
‘Week after week, we are seeing more and more nurseries, childminders and pre-schools across the country being forced to shut their doors as they simply can’t cope with the ongoing lack of adequate funding, while many of those who remain open can only do so by charging parents extra to make up for the funding shortfall.
‘The Government has always claimed that increases in costs like wages, rents and business rates were factored into the childcare funding levels when they were originally set. All we are asking for is proof that this was indeed the case, and it is disappointing that we were forced to appeal to the ICO in order to obtain this information.’
This is the second time the ICO has ruled in the Alliance’s favour in an FOI dispute with the DfE. In February 2017, the DfE was forced to publish research on the cost of delivering childcare it had commissioned to Deloitte following an ICO ruling.
DfE response
The DfE said it was aware of the ICO's decision and is considering its response.
A spokesperson added, 'We want every child to have the best start in life, which is why we are spending around £3.5 billion on early education entitlements this year and plan to spend over £3.6 billion on these offers next year.'
