17.
asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will authorise the local authority to provide nursery schools in Leicester within the State school system.
I shall be prepared to consider any proposals which satisfy the criteria used for the urban programme.
I welcome that answer, but is the right hon. Lady aware of the acute shortage of nursery school places not only in Leicester but in all other cities with large housing estates where far more than the average number of mothers go out to work? Will she, in the circumstances, consult local authorities with a view to providing more nursery school places as a matter of urgency?
Leicester does very well for nursery school places compared with some other authorities. It has 22 per cent. of the 3–4 age group in receipt of nursery education. The problem about extending nursery school education is primarily one of resources.
Will my right hon. Friend encourage local authorities to give more help where they can to play groups, which could do something to meet this need?
I am not responsible for play groups, which, under the previous Government, were put under the health authority, but I agree that they should be encouraged.
Will the Minister say what criteria she is currently using for the urban programme?
The criteria are the same as those that existed under the previous Government.
24.
asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will make a further statement on her plan for expanding nursery schools.
56.
asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will make a statement on her plans for nursery education.
60.
asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will make a statement about the expansion of nursery education.
For the present our first priority is the improvement of primary schools. Nursery education will continue to benefit from the urban programme.
In view of the great demand for more nursery education, may I ask my right hon. Friend not to close her mind to novelty but to look sympathetically at all possible ways of meeting the demand, including the kind of project recently approved by her Department in my constituency the capital cost of which was raised in a few months by voluntary public subscription?
Indeed, I look sympathetically at this kind of demand. As I have said, the limiting factor is resources. That is the only thing which is stopping the advance of nursery education.
Is the right hon. Lady aware that many local education authorities are themselves very anxious to expand nursery education and willing to do this from their existing resources? Therefore, will she bear in mind that if she wants to get the best value out of investment in education, it would be good economics, if the matter is considered from that standpoint alone, to spend more on nursery education and consequently have to spend less on remedial work in secondary schools because of the failure to lay the right foundations?
I know that the hon. Lady and many of my hon. Friends are anxious to extend nursery education as fast as possible. As the hon. Lady knows, the cost is considerable. The annual cost per child in a nursery school is £140.
Can the right hon. Lady assure the House and the public generally that she has rejected the idea of charging fees for State nursery schools?
I have not rejected the idea, but I have no proposals to pursue it at the moment.