Nursery Schools (Hansard, 30 January 1990)

§ 6. Mr. Knox
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on nursery school provision.

§ Mrs. Rumbold
The number of under-fives in school rose by 28 per cent. over the last decade and the age participation rate rose to 45 per cent. Our plans enable that healthy trend to continue.

§ Mr. Knox
Is my hon. Friend aware that in Staffordshire there is excellent nursery school provision in Stoke-on-Trent, but virtually none in the rest of the county? Does she think that that is satisfactory or fair to the rest of the county?

§ Mrs. Rumbold
My hon. Friend will be aware that it is for the local education authority to decide how best to deploy its educational spend, but there has been a tendency for local education authorities to concentrate on the provision of nursery education in the urban rather than in the county areas.

§ Mr. Win Griffiths
Will the Minister confirm that the 20 best providers of nursery education are Labour-controlled authorities and that the 20 worst are Tory or Social and Liberal Democrat-controlled authorities? Is it not a fact that some of those Tory-controlled authorities do not spend any of the money provided in the old rate support grant for nursery schools or classes?

§ Mrs. Rumbold
The hon. Gentleman is not quite accurate. It is true that funds go to the urban areas as part of the Government's strategy to help those who are in most need, but it is not true to say that there is no provision within the county areas for education for the under-fives, because there is through the voluntary sector.

§ Mr. Harry Greenway
Do the Government accept the principle, enunciated in the recent report of the Select Committee on Education, Science and Arts, that under-five provision should be available to all parents who seek to avail themselves of it for educational reasons, and will my hon. Friend seek to persuade all local authorities in principle to move towards that end?

§ Mrs. Rumbold
My hon. Friend knows that I am at present chairing a committee which is looking into the quality of education for the under-fives in the voluntary and state sectors. We must remember that that falls between two Departments, but we hope to improve the quality of the provision for the under-fives in the voluntary and the state sectorsߞthe very point that my hon. Friend makes.

§ Ms. Armstrong
I am pleased that the Minister recognises that the policy often falls between two Departments, but the Department of Education and Science has a responsibility for the education of our young children. When will the Government ensure that all children have the opportunity about which the hon. Member for Ealing, North (Mr. Greenway) talked, and when will they recognise that a child has twice the chance of attending a nursery class or school at the age of three or four in a Labour-controlled authority than in a Tory-controlled authority? Will she congratulate those Labour-controlled authorities, and make sure that money is available next year for all children in all areas?

§ Mrs. Rumbold
As my committee is considering just those questions, perhaps the hon. Lady will read its report with great interest when it comes out later this year.

§ Mrs. Maureen Hicks
In view of the amount of surplus accommodation in many of our schools, would not this be an appropriate time to see whether some of that accommodation can be adapted for pre-school use by the private or the public sectors, or in partnership? Would not that help to deal with the problem of attracting more women, whom we so badly need, back into the workplace?

§ Mrs. Rumbold
My hon. Friend may be aware that many authorities are sensible about adapting some of the surplus primary school accommodation to do just that, working in concert with the voluntary sector to provide pre-school education. In addition, many authorities are now taking children into school before the age of five in order to give them a good start in their first year of compulsory education.