Pre-school Education: Finance Mr. Laws To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how much his Department spent on extending the pre-school entitlement to two year olds in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2008-09; and if he will make a statement; (2) how much funding his Department expects to allocate to extend the pre-school entitlement to two year olds in each of the next three years; and if he will make a statement. Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 6 January 2010]: Funding allocated to support the Free Early Learning and Childcare offer to the most disadvantaged two-year-olds is as follows: ------------------- | |£ million| ------------------- |2008-09|20 | ------------------- |2009-10|61 | ------------------- |2010-11|76 | ------------------- We are committed to rolling out a free entitlement to two-year-olds, stage by stage. The most disadvantaged two-year-olds in every local authority can already access a free place of at least 10 hours a week, 38 weeks per year. Decisions regarding future funding settlements will be taken as part of the next spending review.