§ Ms Estelle MorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has made to enable local education authorities to recoup the costs of providing nursery education for children who are resident in neighbouring local education authorities; and if she plans to put the recoupment on a statutory basis. [8718]
§ Mr. Robin SquireLocal education authorities can recoup the costs of providing nursery education for pupils who are resident in neighbouring areas under voluntary agreements. My right hon. Friend has no immediate plans to remove such local discretion but will keep all the funding arrangements for nursery education under review.
§ Ms MorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what action she is taking to make sure that adequate resources are available for the provision of pre-school education for special needs children. [9052]
§ Mr. SquireVouchers will be available for all four year-olds. The responsibilities of local authorities to identify and make a statutory assessment of those children who may need a statement, to make a statement where appropriate and to satisfy themselves that provision is made available in accordance with the statement, remain unchanged.
We are also considering requiring all providers in the private and voluntary sectors to have regard to the special education needs code of practice. We will discuss the impact of such a requirement with interested parties during the first phase.
§ Ms MorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what financial arrangements she will make to assist local education authorities who wish to offer education for under-fives on a full-time basis. [8725]
§ Mr. SquireLocal education authority budgets will be reduced by the voucher value only in respect of each four-year-old in a maintained school, taking termly attendance into account. Where LEAs spend in excess of the voucher value, on full-time places or otherwise, they will retain the funding to do so.
§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimates her Department has made of shortfalls in respect of places for four-year-olds in(a) Wandsworth, (b) Westminster, (c) Kensington and Chelsea and (d) Norfolk expressed as (i) the number and (ii) the percentage of all four-year-olds in each local education authority. [8934]
§ Mr. SquireEstimates of participation become less reliable when broken down by both year group and local education authority area. However, the best estimates of the number and percentage of four-year-olds in January 1995 in the phase 1 LEAs without a place in the maintained sector are given in the table:
469W
LEA Estimated number of four year olds without a place in the maintained sector in January 1995 Estimated percentage of four year olds without a place in the maintained sector in January 1995 Wandsworth 700 20 Westminster 800 40
LEA Estimated number of four year olds without a place in the maintained sector in January 1995 Estimated percentage of four year olds without a place in the maintained sector in January 1995 Kensington and Chelsea 850 50 Norfolk 3000 30
§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what measures she will be taking to evaluate the impact of the nursery voucher scheme on provision for three-year-olds; [8930]
(2) what measures she will be taking to evaluate the impact of the nursery voucher scheme on participation and educational attainment of children with special educational needs; [8928]
(3) what measures she will be taking to evaluate the impact of the nursery voucher scheme on the educational attainment of the children involved; [8931]
(4) what measures she will be taking to evaluate the impact of the nursery voucher scheme on participation and educational attainment of children from ethnic minority groups. [8929]
§ Mr. SquireThe effectiveness of voucher issue and redemption will be assessed using information provided by the voucher contractor. The standards of provision will become known as the inspection regime yields inspection reports. The longer-term impact of the scheme cannot be assessed until data are available on children's later educational achievements.
§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimates she has made of the number of Ofsted registered nursery education inspectors necessary to carry out inspections of voucher-redeeming institutions in(a) phase 1 and (b) phase 2 of the voucher scheme. [8936]
§ Mr. SquireInitial planning estimates indicate that for the first and second phases of the scheme, some 200 and 4,000 registered nursery education inspectors respectively will be required. The precise number will depend mainly upon the number of providers who take part in the scheme.
§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what information she intends to request of(a) the pilot local authorities, (b) pre-school providers, (c) Capita Managed Services Ltd. and (d) parents of four-year-olds in order to evaluate the operation of the nursery voucher scheme in phase 1. [8932]
§ Mr. SquireCapita Managed Services Ltd. will provide information for the phase 1 areas on the number of institutions which have joined the scheme, as well as the issue and redemption of vouchers. The local authorities and participating institutions will be able to comment on the administrative arrangements. Any views made known by parents will also be carefully considered.
§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimates she has made of the number of inspections by Ofsted of voucher-redeeming470W institutions that will be required in (a) phase 1 and (b) phase 2 of the voucher scheme. [8937]
§ Mr. SquireSetting aside maintained schools which are already subject to regular inspections by Ofsted, initial planning estimates indicate that for the first and second phases of the scheme some 600 and 12,000 inspections of voucher redeeming establishments will be required. The precise number will depend upon the number of providers who take part in the scheme.
§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if parents will be able to redeem their vouchers for nursery provision during school holidays. [8933]
§ Mr. SquireThe voucher will cover a minimum of 36 weeks spread over three terms. In maintained schools it will cover the full school term. In the private and voluntary sectors it will be open to providers to offer more provision.