To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of families in Stockport (a) are eligible for and (b) have taken up (i) free and (ii) subsidised child care. (114292)

At December 2005 the Office for National Statistics shows Stockport having a population of 5,900¹ three and four-year-olds, and the 2006 early years and annual schools censuses shows the number of part-time early education places funded by the free entitlement for three and four-year-olds in the Stockport area was 5,500².

Data on eligibility and take-up of free or subsidised child care overall are not available centrally.

Child care used by parents can be subsidised in a variety of ways, including the child care element of the working tax credit, local authority subsidies, Jobcentre Plus new deals, care to learn, learner support funds and NHS child care allowances.

¹ ONS population estimates are aggregated to age groupings of at least five years. Figures based on a single year of age at the sub-national level are therefore of limited reliability.

² The number of children benefiting from some form of free early education can exceed the number of free part-time early education places taken up by children as a place may be taken up by more than one child.