§ Mrs. MahonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what funds have been allocated by Kent county council for the provision of nursery school places in Kent for the last 10 years that figures are available.
§ Mr. EggarThe readily available information on school-based recurrent spending on nursery schools by Kent county council, taken from the authority's spending returns to Government, is as follows:
27W
Year Net institutional expenditure £000 1978–79 11 1979–80 11 1980–81 20 1981–82 41 1982–83 38
Year Net institutional expenditure £000 1983–84 46 1984–85 59 1985–86 60 1986–87 63
§ Mrs. MahonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what grant has been made available to Kent education authority for the provision of nursery school places in Kent for the last 10 years that figures are available.
§ Mr. EggarSupport for nursery provision is given primarily through unhypothecated block grant by central Government in support of all local authority services. Until 31 March 1990, the distribution of block grant was dependent on the grant-related expenditure assessment (GREA) which had a nursery component. From 1 April 1990 the distribution of block grant has been made by reference to the standard spending assessment (SSA) which has a component for pupils under the age of five.
From 1981–82 to 1989–90 the figures for the nursery component of Kent's GREA were as follows:
£ million 1981–82 4.16 1982–83 3.42 1983–84 3.82 1984–85 4.28 1985–86 4.16 1986–87 4.30 1987–88 4.76 1988–89 5.88 1989–90 6.97 For 1990–91, the under-five block of the education element of Kent's SSA, which allows for the education of its pupils under the age of five (including nursery pupils), was £16.83 million.
§ Mrs. MahonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many nursery school places have been made available in Kent by Kent education authority for the last 10 years that figures are available.
§ Mr. EggarInformation on the number of nursery school places is not available centrally.
The numbers of pupils in maintained nursery schools in Kent for the last 10 years are as follows:
January each year Pupils on roll 1981 82 1982 85 1983 88 1984 79 1985 90 1986 84 1987 78 1988 81 1989 82 1990 80