asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many children were in receipt of nursery education in the academic years 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74 and 1974–75; what is the estimate for each of the next five years; and what was the total cost of nursery education in each of these academic years.

The numbers of full-time and part-time pupils in maintained nursery schools and in nursery classes in maintained primary schools in England were as follows:

JANUARY:
1972	…	…	…	101,719
1973	…	…	…	110,490
1974	…	…	…	123,591

Figures for January 1975 are not yet available.Recurrent expenditure on nursery education in the financial years 1972–73 and 1973–74 was about £7 million and £9 million respectively.Building starts programmes totalling £38·7 million have been allocated to local education authorities for nursery education for the period 1974–76 but with varying costs of provision the number of places to be provided from these allocations cannot be accurately assessed.Capital resources for subsequent years have yet to be determined.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what are the latest figures he has of the amount of nursery education available in the county of Northumberland; and what information he has about the plans of the authority to increase it.

In October 1974 the Northumberland local education authority had one nursery school and six nursery classes, together providing a total of 210 full-time equivalent places. The authority has been allocated £176,500 for nursery education building starts in 1974–75 and £115,640 for 1975–76. It is for authorities themselves to decide which individual projects they wish to start within their allocations. My Department wrote to all local education authorities on 31st January inviting bids for nursery education building allocations for 1976–77 and 1977–78.