asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many children attend nursery schools and nursery classes and what proportion this is of the total number of children aged under 5 years; and what comparative figures there are for five years ago, 10 years ago, and 20 years ago.

In England in January 1976 there were 158,234 full-time and part-time pupils attending maintained nursery schools or nursery classes in maintained primary schools; this figure represents 5 per cent. of the total under-5 population. Figures for 1971, the earliest year for which comparable data are available, were 90,146 and 2·4 per cent. respectively. Corresponding

	Title of Research	Tenure of Grant	Total Value of Grant
			£
(a) Southampton University (Institute of Sound and Vibration Research).	Research in Audiology	1st March 1971–31st July 1977	312,000
	Improved Methods of Testing Hearing Protectors.	9th February 1976–8th February 1979	31,875
(b) Nottingham University (Department of Psychology).	Intellectual Development of the Deaf	1st September 1976–31st August 1981	156,105
	The Development of Communication Skills in Deaf Children from 12 to36 months.	1st October 1976–30th September 1979	30,391

A programme grant for research on mobility of blind people (tenure 1st June 1972–31st May 1980) includes studies, at an estimated annual cost of £2,300, on hearing aids for persons who are both blind and deaf or hard of hearing.