Pre-school Education: Finance

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how much capital funding for nursery provision has been allocated to (a) Poole borough council, (b) Bournemouth borough council and (c) Dorset county council in the last three years; (302160)

(2) how much revenue nursery grant funding has been allocated to (a) Poole borough council, (b) Bournemouth borough council and (c) Dorset county council in each of the last three years; and what other sources of revenue funding for early years activities have been made available to each council in each such year.

Nursery Grant funding as was, is now covered by the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). The DSG is given to local authorities to fund the wide range of needs of pupils aged three to 15.

The DSG is allocated on the basis of an amount per pupil to meet all that needs to be funded. Local authorities are then responsible for deciding how best to apportion the overall grant to meet their local objectives. It is therefore not possible to disaggregate the amount allocated to nursery provision.

The Department provides a number of other grants to local authorities to fund the wider policies of Early Years provision. The Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare Grant (SSEYCG) supports the delivery of the Government’s 10-Year Strategy for Childcare and the goals in the Children’s Plan, by providing funding: for Sure Start children’s centres; for the Graduate Leader Fund; to improve the quality of and access to learning environments in early years settings; and to transform short break services for disabled children, among other things.

Details of the amounts allocated to the various strands of the SSEYCG are shown in the following table. Many of the strands are not individually ring-fenced, and similarly to the DSG, local authorities are responsible for apportioning the grant to best meet local needs.

Lastly the Standard’s Fund includes funding to extend and increase the flexibility of the entitlement for three and four-year-olds to free child care. The local authorities in question received an allocation for this in 2009-10, details of which are also shown in the table.

*2007-082008-092009-10*
Grant	Strand	Classification	Bournemouth	Dorset	Poole	Bournemouth	Dorset	Poole	Bournemouth	Dorset	Poole
Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare Grant	Children's Centres	Revenue	¹—	¹—	¹—	1,676,318	2,770,062	1,018,560	2,043,172	3,702,219	1,381,840
	Sufficiency and Access	Revenue	¹—	¹—	¹—	391,687	720,426	296,946	387,194	742,039	305,854
	Outcomes, Quality and Inclusion	Revenue	¹—	¹—	¹—	404,941	746,629	308,036	438,074	846,851	350,216
	Graduate Leader Fund	Revenue	¹—	¹—	¹—	212,599	435,959	137,871	284,893	582,250	177,502
	Every Child a Talker	Revenue	¹—	¹—	¹—	0	0	0	107,418	0	0
	Buddying	Revenue	¹—	¹—	¹—	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Childcare Take Up BME	Revenue	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	0	0	0
	National Indicator 118	Revenue	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	0	0	0
	Sure Start Local Programmes	Revenue	620,426	669,774	0	456,402	625,807	0	453,148	453,148	0
	Disabled Children's Access to Childcare	Revenue	¹—	¹—	¹—	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Two Year Old Early Learning Pilot	Revenue	¹—	¹—	¹—	0	0	0	135,572	165,836	133,050
	0-7 Year Old Partnership Pilot	Revenue	¹—	¹—	¹—	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Work Focused Services	Revenue	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	0	0	0
	Achievement for All	Revenue	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	0	0	0
	Aiming High for Disabled Children	Revenue	15,000	15,000	15,000	122,300	336,300	115,500	357,300	1,047,500	335,400
	Extended Schools	Revenue	¹—	¹—	¹—	136,055	460,757	92,458	¹—	¹—	¹—
	Early Years Foundation Stage (PVI)	Revenue	¹—	¹—	¹—	15,620	41,223	15,362	¹—	¹—	¹—
	Social and Emotional Aspects of Development	Revenue	¹—	¹—	¹—	19,707	52,523	14,031	¹—	¹—	¹—
	Main Revenue	Revenue	2,071,040	3,627,762	1,365,067	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
	Transformation Fund	Revenue	236,408	509,640	197,905	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
	Children's Centres	Capital	¹—	¹—	¹—	179,498	667,272	269,943	372,158	1,402,445	566,784
	Childcare Quality and Access	Capital	¹—	¹—	¹—	640,989	1,440,292	534,772	640,989	1,440,292	534,772
	Aiming High for Disabled Children	Capital	0	0	0	56,700	149,000	53,100	132,200	347,700	123,800
	Main Capital	Capital	2,056,968	3,555,642	1,994,757	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
	SSEYCG Sub Total		4,999,842	8,377,818	3,572,729	4,312,816	8,446,250	2,856,579	5,352,118	10,730,280	3,909,218

Standard's Fund	Free Entitlement for Three and Four Year Olds	Revenue	0	0	0	0	0	0	187,014	655,755	148,256

	Total		4,999,842	8,377,818	3,572,729	4,312,816	8,446,250	2,856,579	5,539,132	11,386,035	4,057,474
¹ Indicates that grant strand was not available in a particular year. Notes: 1. Main Revenue and Main Capital include children's centres and childcare sufficiency funding. However, it is not possible to disaggregate into individual strands for the 2007-08 financial year. 2. Under the terms and conditions of the Grant Aiming High for Disabled Children, Extended Schools, and Quality and Access capital funding can be used to deliver services to an age range wider than early years. The services delivered by children's centres and local programmes may also link with other policy areas with wider age ranges.

Volume 501: debated on Wednesday 2 December 2009