asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what recommendations and reports have been made and what activities undertaken by the inter-departmental working party on the education and care of the under-fives during the last three years.

I have been asked to reply.The Inter-Departmental Consultative Group on Under-Fives is not a working party and it is not its function to produce reports. It acts as a forum for the discussion of matters of common interest by professional and administrative officials of those Government Departments which have responsibility for under-fives services. It has also had discussions with the local authority associations, the Equal Opportunities Commission, voluntary bodies in the under-fives field and others.