§ Baroness Ellesasked Her Majesty's Government:
What plans there are for assessing the working and effects of Phase 1 of the nursery education voucher scheme.
§ The Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment (Lord Henley)The nursery education voucher scheme will be assessed in three stages. First, the operational aspects of the scheme will be evaluated, drawing on a data on the issue and redemption of vouchers provided by the vouchers agent and on surveys of parents and providers. Initial results will be placed in the Library as they become available, with an overall assessment in the autumn. The first inspection reports will also be published in the autumn, and OFSTED propose to publish an overview report of early findings around January 1997.
Second, to assess medium-term changes in the provision and use of places, a survey will be undertaken of current use of places by three and four year-olds. The results will be compared with those of similar surveys in subsequent years. Third, the department is considering tender proposals for assessing the longer term effects of pre-school education by a longitudinal cohort study.
In all of this, the department will liaise as appropriate with other bodies making assessments of the scheme.