To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending the early years education entitlement to (a) two-year-olds in households below 60 per cent. of median income and (b) all two-year-olds. (206904)

The Children's Plan: building brighter futures published by the Department for Schools and Families in December 2007 announced an additional £100 million to extend the offer of up to 15 hours of free early education and childcare to 20,000 two-year-olds in the most disadvantaged communities.

As with the response I gave her on 2 June, Official Report, columns 719-20W relating to extension to the 3 and 4-year-old offer, to estimate the costs of a further extension of the two-year-old offer would require an analysis of childcare costs and other factors at the time of implementation, and of the impact on both supply and demand for provision in the childcare market. Costing a targeted extension would require an assessment any extra cost from targeting and any differences in the cost of making provision available to particular groups.