Pre-Schools

Mrs. May
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many four year-olds are currently attending (a) maintained nursery schools, (b) nursery classes in maintained primary schools, (c) reception classes, (d) voluntary sector pre-school provision and (e) private sector pre-school provision. [82017]

Ms Hodge
The available information is shown in the following table. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Number of four-year-olds in maintained nursery schools                             |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Number of four-year-olds in nursery classes in maintained primary schools          |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Number of four-year-olds in infant classes1 in maintained primary schools          |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Number of four-year-olds in private and voluntary providers and independent schools|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mrs. May
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) if he will estimate how many pre-schools have closed since May 1997; and if he will set out the basis of the Government's calculation; [82016](2) what assessment he has made of the basis for the difference in figures produced by his Department and by the Pre-School Learning Alliance on the number of pre-schools that have closed since May 1997. [82019]

Ms Hodge
The Department's annual survey of day-care facilities in England, using data submitted by local authorities, shows a small fall in the number of registered playgroups at March 1998 compared with a year earlier. Officials have arranged to discuss with the Pre-School Learning Alliance differences between their figures and the latest survey data.