Childcare Bill

It is worth teasing out the information a little further. The figures are clear. We have seen a seismic difference in closure of nursery places over the past two years. The year before last, 59,000 places closed; last year, 200,000 places closed. The feeling we get is that that is reducing the take-up of nursery places. At the moment, the figures show that nurseries are running at 79 per cent. capacity, which is well below the level that is financially viable. That came out in the Public Accounts Committee debate on the subject two years ago. I want the Minister to focus on that. The difference between 59,000 and 200,000 closures is enormous. As my hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening) said, it results in uncertainty for children and working parents, which we are not happy about.