§ 15. Mr. WatersonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what proposals he has to ensure universal nursery education; and if he will make a statement. [8610]
§ Ms Estelle MorrisLocal education authorities will set out in their early-years development plans how they will provide, by September 1998, three terms of pre-school education to all four-year-olds whose parents want it.
§ Mr. WatersonIs the hon. Lady aware of the strong support in Eastbourne and elsewhere for both the playgroup movement and private nursery provision? Is it not a tragedy that, as a result of the scrapping of the nursery voucher system, for party political and dogmatic reasons, many parents in my constituency will not be able to have access to such diversity of provision, which was the centrepiece of the previous Government's policy?
§ Ms MorrisI share with the hon. Gentleman's constituents my admiration for much of that done by the voluntary and independent sectors in providing good-quality early-years education for our young children. His Government's voucher policy particularly threatened the voluntary sector. As a result, we have abolished the voucher scheme and replaced it with planned provision to ensure that all the money that is available for early-years education can be spent on young children and not on bureaucracy.
I have made it clear before, and I reassure the House and the hon. Member again, that plans that come forward as development plans will have to show proper partnership between the maintained, voluntary and independent sectors. They will not be approved unless they show such partnership.
§ Mr. PikeDoes my hon. Friend recognise that parents with young children throughout the country welcome the steps being taken by the Labour Government to make nursery education available as of right to all 1040 four-year-olds, and look forward to the day when, after 18 years of neglect, the Labour Government are able to make nursery education also available to three-year-olds?
§ Ms MorrisI am grateful for my hon. Friend's comments. He is absolutely right. There has been evidence for a long while that the best way to give children a good start in education is to give them the best start in early-years education. The tragedy has been that whether a child received such education depended on where they lived, not whether they needed it. Parents will welcome our pledge at long last to do what Labour local authorities have been doing for a very long time: ensuring that all four-year-olds whose parents want it have good-quality early-years education. Parents will also welcome it if we move quickly to ensure that such education is available for three-year-olds as well.
§ Mr. AllanGiven the Government's clearly stated aim to create partnerships between LEAs, the voluntary sector and the independent sector, which the Liberal Democrats support, what does the Minister make of difficulties faced by some voluntary sector providers, such as the Bradway playgroup in my area, in getting registered to provide places in an area which, historically, has had little or no LEA provision? Will she look at that urgently?
§ Ms MorrisI am not aware of the particular playgroup to which the hon. Gentleman refers, but if he thinks that it is appropriate that I look at the matter, I shall of course be happy to do so. It is very important that all providers reach the standards that we expect as providers of early-years education for young children. That is clearly set out in the learning outcomes. I should have thought that, if providers reach those standards, they should be talking to the local authority. If they have a part to play in the provision of early-years education, integrated with child care, the early-years development plan is the arena in which they can make their voices heard.