To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate the capital and revenue costs of providing nursery school places for all children in the three to five age group.

[holding answer 24 February 1992]: Local authorities have the power to provide for nursery education as they deem appropriate in response to local needs and circumstances and their own spending priorities.The Opposition have made various claims about the importance of providing nursery places for all three and four-year-olds, but I am not aware of any estimates of the total cost of providing these places.