HC Deb 26 June 1996 vol 280 cc335-7
15. Mrs. Helen Jackson

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has to extend the nursery voucher pilot schemes to other areas. [33212]

Mr. Robin Squire

Our plans for nursery education vouchers are transparently well known. We expect to extend the voucher scheme to all local education authority areas in England in April 1997.

Mrs. Jackson

In consultations with parents of nursery children in my constituency, I have found not one who wants the system of nursery vouchers foisted upon my area. Will he accept the sensible amendment accepted in the other place two weeks ago, whereby the pilot schemes for young guinea pigs in Wandsworth, Westminster, Norfolk and Kensington would be properly evaluated by the House before being extended?

Mr. Squire

We are, naturally, considering the matter in light of the vote in the other place, but we remain confident that the scheme has many attractions for parents. I hope that when the hon. Lady next meets parents she will point out to them the result of the survey of parents in phase 1 areas, which disclosed that 87 per cent. of Norfolk parents already rate the scheme as very good or quite good. The chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, which represents some 20,000 voluntary groups across the country, spoke the truth when he said that the House of Lords had got it wrong and that at least 200,000 young children would lose out as a result.

Mr. Bellingham

Is my hon. Friend aware that the scheme has met with great approval in Norfolk and that, in my constituency, the figure of 87 per cent. is probably an underestimate? Is he further aware that parents are very pleased, in spite of the great reservations expressed by the Labour establishment in Norfolk and elsewhere? Will the Norfolk schools that would have liked a nursery school project this year be given every possibility of getting one next year?

Mr. Squire

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his last question, but he will understand if I cannot give him that commitment this afternoon. The structure and sense of his comments is absolutely right, and his findings in Norfolk are reflected in each of the phase 1 authorities. The only danger is not the scheme itself but the distortions spread by Opposition Members.

Mr. Blunkett

Will the junior Minister tell us why, in her letter to the Leader of the House, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment stated that she thought that she would experience greater difficulty overturning the amendment in the Commons?

Mr. Squire

Much as the Government's commitment to open government becomes more apparent week by week, I hesitate to embrace these discussions on the Floor of the Chamber. Labour has no policy on nursery education, despite 17 years in opposition in which to plan for one. All Labour is prepared to do is to seek to frustrate the expansion of a scheme to provide quality nursery provision across the country. Labour should be ashamed of itself. To use the vernacular that is appropriate today, even if there is extra time in this area, there are no golden goals for Labour—there are only penalties for parents across the country.

Mr. Jacques Arnold

What does my hon. Friend think has been said to the parents of children who are on the waiting lists, without much hope, of the state nursery units in Sheffield? Why has not the hon. Member concerned met them?

Mr. Squire

My hon. Friend is right. If only Opposition Members, including those representing Sheffield, would give the same consideration to spreading the range of choice of pre-school provision that the Government are delivering, matters would proceed more smoothly and parents would be the gainers.