HC Deb 21 June 1976 vol 913 cc1081-3
9. Mr. Cledwyn Hughes

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the amount of grant available to Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin for 1976–77.

12. Mr. Fred Evans

asked the Secretary of State for Wales what financial allocation he proposes to make to preschool playgroups in Wales.

Mr. John Morris

I am glad to inform the House that I have been able this year to increase grant aid to the playgroup movement by approximately 50 per cent. over last year's figures. Grant to Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin is £36,200 as compared with £24,400 for last year and that to the Pre-School Playgroups Association is £18,000 as against £12,000 in 1975–76. I am glad to have this opportunity of paying tribute to the work of both organisations.

Mr. Hughes

Is my right hon. and learned Friend aware that his statement of the increased grant will be warmly welcomed in Wales? How many training and development officers are working in the movement? What increase has there been in the number of affiliated groups? Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree with me that a very warm tribute is due to the voluntary workers in the movement, without whom the movement would not be the success that it is?

Mr. Morris

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right to pay tribute to voluntary, unpaid workers, who are the backbone of this movement. I pay full tribute to them. My right hon. Friend will recollect that the grant to the Mudiad when I took office was £5,000. I have increased it substantially because I believe that it is a major way of ensuring that the language is given assistance where needed.

As regards figures and the Mudiad, the number of groups has increased from 130 in 1973 to about 250. There will be an increase in full-time training and development officers from the equivalent of two and a half to four.

Mr. D. E. Thomas

The announcement of an increased grant is certainly welcomed on the Welsh National Bench as well, but does not the Minister accept that this, in effect, is conscience money, which makes up for the capital cuts in the statutory nursery programme in Wales? Indeed, as the percentage of teacher unemployment in Wales is likely to be about four out of five, with only one in five students at the training colleges in Wales likely to get a job, would it not be better to increase provision in the statutory set-up?

Mr. Morris

The hon. Gentleman knows full well the background against which we seek to allocate the totality of money available to us within the limitations of those resources. However, to describe this money as conscience money is ridiculous. I embarked upon this policy of giving aid where it was needed to give the backing of an organisation structure to a wholly voluntary movement as soon as I took office.

Mr. Evans

I join the tributes to my right hon. and learned Friend on this policy, which in any case has long been regarded as a very enlightened policy in education. However, does he not agree that this small gleam of hope highlights the sombre background in the general education picture in Wales of the position of potential teachers and of local authorities which have to impose the savage cuts that they now envisage?

Mr. Morris

I am sure that my hon. Friend is right to pinpoint the welcome with which this kind of grant will be received. Certainly in the deprived areas it will increase the possibility of giving help where it is needed—in those very areas that can benefit enormously from it. I do not accept my hon. Friend's description of "savage" cuts.

Mr. Wyn Roberts

I welcome the Secretary of State's decision which is, I believe, in line with the White Paper produced by my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition, "Education—A Framework for Expansion." However, does this decision have a bearing on the plight of those nursery assistants trained at Bangor Technical College by Gwynedd County Council who are facing their year end at the college with no prospect of work, although work in the nursery sector was promised to them?

Mr. Morris

This is a matter for local education authorities. We announced last year a total of money available for nursery education. It is for the LEAs to decide what part of that they should take up.