A government-funded study into how councils carried out local childcare sufficiency assessments found many had not even collected basic information about the number of available places. Less than one in 10 councils managed to collect and analyse between 75 and 100 per cent of the required data on the supply of places and only one in four met this target when analysing local demand for places.
The study examined 40 councils and deemed the work of 10 as a major cause for concern since they were not even able to complete at least a quarter of the required analysis.
Areas of information where councils performed poorly included analysis of places for children with disabilities and special educational needs. Less than one in 10 councils managed to fully map the number and nature of these places or local demand. Information about the range of session lengths on offer for all children was also woeful, with only eight per cent fully mapping this. Insufficient feedback from nurseries was cited as one factor for this poor performance.
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