To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to count the number of staff working in the early years and childcare sector.

The department collects information on the overall size of the workforce through its regular Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2023.

The latest data from this survey was published in December 2023 and showed the number of paid staff working in the early years sector had increased by 13,000 in 2023 alone.