HC Deb 20 April 1967 vol 745 cc781-3
10. Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps he has taken towards the implementation of the Plowden proposals on nursery education.

Mr. Crosland

I am still considering the Plowden proposals as a whole. As I said in the House when we debated the Report, many of these proposals involve substantial expenditure, and I must have regard to the resources likely to be available. Moreover I want to hear the views of the local authority and teachers' associations, only some of which I have so far received.

Mrs. Short

Does my right hon. Friend intend in the near future to ask local education authorities, particularly those in the educational priority areas, to put forward their proposals for opening nursery accommodation in their areas with a view to possible allocation in next year's building programme?

Mr. Crosland

I am not sure that I would commit myself as far as that, but, as my hon. Friend knows from our debate on the Plowden Council's Report, I am very anxious that when we can allow any relaxation on the nursery school front, that relaxation should be for the benefit of these educationally deprived areas. To that extent, I am very much in sympathy with what my hon. Friend has said.

Sir E. Boyle

Can the right hon. Gentleman say whether he hopes, at any rate by the Whitsun Recess, to say something about the Plowden Council's recommendations on nursery education? Will he bear in mind that, if he cannot go the whole way, we on this side of the House will considerably sympathise, but that we feel that the time has come when he should say something about the Plowden Council's recommendation on this subject, particularly with regard to educational priority areas?

Mr. Crosland

I shall certainly try to be less dilatory than right hon. Gentlemen opposite were when they were in power. They took precisely four and a half years before they were willing to accept the major recommendation of the Crowther Report. As the right hon. Gentleman knows, I was as forthcoming as I could have been in the debate on 16th March. As soon as I can announce something about nursery schools, I will, but I cannot now give a definite time.

Miss Lestor

Can my right hon. Friend give us some indication of what weight we can place on his statement during the debate on overseas students that it might be possible for him to use the money saved in this respect by implementing the Plowden Report's recommendations on nursery education in deprived areas?

Mr. Crosland

That was not precisely what I said. In reply to those critics who had said that our savings on overseas students were negligible, I pointed out that in terms of the education budget they were far from negligible, because, if used in other ways—and I quoted this as an example—they could produce substantial benefits.

Sir E. Boyle

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that his answer to my supplementary question is beginning to wear rather thin?Is he aware that we announced a decision on the Robbins Report within 24 hours and on the school leaving age within less than four months of the receipt of the Newsom Report? It was for that reason, with those precedents in mind, that I asked him to say something about nursery education by the time of the Whitsun Recess this year.

Mr. Crosland

I do not know what the right hon. Gentleman means by "wearing rather thin". This is only the second time that I have used it and after some years' experience in the House I find that a number of other hon. Members use phrases far more than twice over a period of months. These Reports are prolonged and complicated. It was some five to seven months before right hon. Gentlemen opposite arranged to have the Crowther and Newsom Reports debated in the House for the first time, and, of course, it was long after that that announcements were made on the detailed recommendations. I shall make a statement as soon as I can.