§ 1. Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list Her Majesty's Government's new measures centrally to fund nursery education.
§ The Minister of State for Education and Science (Mr. Tim Eggar)We are not planning any such measures. We see no reason to change the present arrangements whereby local education authorities can determine what to spend on nursery education within the total resources available to them.
§ Mr. WrayWhat happened to the promises made in 1972 by the right hon. Member for Finchley (Mrs. Thatcher) when she was Secretary of State for Education and Science? She told the House that by 1982 she would provide 700,000 nursery school places. Twenty years later we are still 200,000 short of that target. How shall we cope with the projected shortage in the labour force if we do not provide the nursery places that are needed? Does the Minister agree that the private sector has let us down very bady indeed in the high cost of nursery school provision, with people having to pay perhaps £75 a week for nursery education for their children?
§ Mr. EggarI will tell the hon. Gentleman what happened. In 1976 there were 440,000 youngsters in nursery education. By 1978 the number had fallen to 415,000. That was the priority that the Labour party gave when in power under the right hon. Member for Leeds, East (Mr. Healey), with his cuts in public expenditure, and when the hon. Member for Derby, South (Mrs. Beckett) was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education.
§ Dame Jill KnightIs my hon. Friend aware that while many people feel that there is a strong case for helping women who bring up their children alone and must go out to work to support the family, many people also feel that women who go out to quite highly paid jobs and who want their children cared for while they earn a lot of money should make a contribution and pay for the education of their children at that stage of their children's lives?
§ Ms. ArmstrongDoes the Minister remember the advice given by his right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Sir N. Fowler) that the Government had acted dishonestly by not increasing the number of nursery places? Does he realise the deep anxiety felt by parents up and down the country who do not have access to nursery education for their children? Is not it an entitlement that the Government should be building towards so that there is opportunity and choice for those families?
§ Mr. EggarYes, and there are 150,000 more under-fives in maintained schools in England than there were in 1979. We have increased the number of places by 150,000 and the Labour party decreased it by 25,000 over two years. 1016 That is the relative record of our two parties. What is more, the hon. Lady knows that all that she can promise from the Opposition Front Bench is 50 part-time nursery places per local education authority area.