Nursery Education Mr. Allen 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] Maria Eagle 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.-------------------------------------------------------------------- |Position in January each year | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |Maintained nursery and primary schools1,2 | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers3| -------------------------------------------------------------------- |4-year-olds | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total | -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- |Maintained nursery and primary schools1 | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers3| -------------------------------------------------------------------- | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |Maintained nursery and primary schools4 | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers5| -------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total 4-year-olds6 | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total | -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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). Gregory Barker 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] Mr. Miliband 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.------------------------------- |Position in January each year| ------------------------------- |1997 | ------------------------------- |1998 | ------------------------------- |1999 | ------------------------------- |2000 | ------------------------------- |2001 | ------------------------------- |2002 | ------------------------------- 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.