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Nursery Education

Volume 400: debated on Monday 3 March 2003

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To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) three and (b) four-year-old children in Nottingham, North attended nursery (i) in 1997 and (ii) in the most recent period for which figures are available. [98328]

The information is not available in the form requested.The available information on the numbers of free early education places taken up by three and four-year-olds in Nottingham City local education authority for 1997 and 2002 are shown in the table.

Numbers of free early education places taken up by three and four-year-olds, Nottingham City local education authority area 1997 and 2002
Position in January each year19972002
3-year-olds
Maintained nursery and primary schools1,21,800
Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers3n/a
4-year-olds3,900
Total5,700

Numbers of free early education places taken up by three and four-year-olds, Nottingham City local education authority area 1997 and 2002

Position in January each year

1997

2002

3-year-olds

Maintained nursery and primary schools12,400
Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers3690

4-year-olds

Maintained nursery and primary schools43,000
Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers5430
Total 4-year-olds63,430
Total6,520
n/a = not available

1Headcount of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools Census

2 Summer term 1997.

3 Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise. Nursery Education Grant for three-year-olds was allocated to the 65 LEAs in 1999–2000 and all LEAs from 2000–2001.

4Headcount of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools Census.

5 Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education grant data collection exercise.

6 The total 4-year-old figure for 2002 combines two sources of information, the Annual Schools' Census and Nursery Education Grant data. In previous years, only Nursery Education Grant data was used.

Latest figures on three and four-year-olds in early years education providers were published by the Department in the Statistical Bulletin "Provision for Children Under Five Years of Age in England—January 2002 (08/2002)" in December 2002, a copy of which is available from the Library. An electronic copy of this publication is also available on the Department's website (www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics).

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many nursery places in England and Wales there were for children (a) under three years and (b) from three years to compulsory school age for each year since 1997. [96802]

The available information on the number of free early years educatquoteion places taken up by three and four-year-olds in each year since 1997 is shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Number1,2of 3 and 4-year-olds taking up free early years education places England 1997–2002
Position in January each year3-year-olds4-year-oldsTotal
1997214,200576,200790,300
1998222,000591,500813,500
1999225,700593,800819,500
2000270,200598,500868,600
2001335,400589,300924,700
2002408,200584,500992,800
1 Rounded to the nearest hundred.
2 Sum over 3 and 4-year-olds may not equal total because of rounding.
All four-year-olds have been able to access a free, part-time early education place since September 1998. Since September 1999, we have invested substantially in new free early years education places for three-year-olds. The table shows that the number of free early years education places taken up by three-year-olds increased from 214,200 in 1997 to 408,200 in 2002, an increase of 194,000 places. We are committed to providing all three year-olds, whose parents want one, with free early years education places by April 2004.The latest figures on provision for three and four-year-olds were published in Statistical Bulletin 09/2002 "Provision For Children Under Five Years Of Age in England-January 2002", which is available from the Library or the Department's website www.dfes.gov.uk/ statistics/.Information for Wales is a matter for the Education Department of the Assembly for Wales.