HC Deb 13 December 1999 vol 341 cc80-2W
Mr. Gerald Howarth

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will set out in respect of each education authority area the percentage of three-year-olds whose pre-school learning is being funded by his Department in the current financial year under the scheme announced in December 1998. [98589]

Ms Hodge

The Government are making available £390 million over three years to increase the number of free, good quality, early education places for three-year-olds. 190,000 new free places will be made available, which will mean 66 per cent. of three-year-olds will be able to access a free place by March 2002. In 1999–2000, around £40 million of this additional funding will be allocated to 57 Local Education Authorities with the highest levels of social need. The following table

The 57 local education authorities receiving nursery education grant for 3-year-olds in 1999–2000
Percentage
Percentage of children receiving

nursery education grant

Current percentage of children

receiving free early education (via

Standard Spending Assessment)

Total participation of

three-year-olds in free early

education in 1999–2000

Barking and Dagenham 12.9 69.1 81.9
Barnsley 30.8 48.5 79.3
Birmingham 39.4 49.0 88.5
Blackburn with Darwen 26.7 41.3 67.9
Blackpool 60.6 17.3 77.9
Bolton 20.4 59.3 79.7
Bradford 16.9 66.4 83.3
Brent 30.5 51.2 81.7
Camden 39.0 41.7 80.7
County Durham 5.5 71.4 76.9
Coventry 31.9 49.4 81.3
Doncaster 16.6 64.1 80.7
Ealing 10.5 69.2 79.7
Gateshead 25.7 55.1 80.7
Greenwich 26.0 58.3 84.2
Hackney 41.8 44.6 86.4
Halton 36.8 43.3 80.2
Hammersmith and Fulham 29.0 51.5 80.5
Haringey 22.2 61.3 83.5
Hartlepool 3.0 97.0 100.0
Hounslow 8.7 55.8 64.5
Islington 37.6 45.3 82.9
Kingston upon Hull 13.9 69.0 82.9
Knowsley 3.0 94.3 97.4
Lambeth 39.9 45.0 84.9
Leeds 13.5 65.7 79.2
Leicester 31.1 52.0 83.1
Lewisham 42.7 40.2 82.9
Liverpool 20.2 69.8 90.0
Manchester 10.2 79.7 89.9
Middlesbrough 3.0 97.0 100.0
Newcastle upon Tyne 25.4 58.5 83.9
Newham 38.3 49.8 88.1
North East Lincolnshire 30.0 46.6 76.5
North Tyneside 3.0 78.8 81.8
Nottingham 24.5 60.0 84.6
Oldham 34.0 48.5 82.5
Redcar and Cleveland 3.0 97.0 100.0
Rochdale 31.2 51.2 82.4
Rotherham 37.1 40.9 78.0
Salford 5.5 77.2 82.7
Sandwell 11.5 76.5 88.0
Sheffield 39.9 42.1 82.0
South Tyneside 3.8 76.7 80.5
Southwark 25.2 60.2 85.4
St. Helens 12.5 46.4 58.9
Stockton-on-Tees 3.0 97.0 100.0
Stoke-on-Trent 14.1 64.9 79.0
Sunderland 14.0 69.2 83.2
Tameside 20.7 57.0 77.7
Tower Hamlets 9.3 76.6 85.9
Wakefield 14.1 62.3 76.4
Walsall 3.0 88.1 91.1
Waltham Forest 45.5 35.2 80.7
Wandsworth 39.5 39.3 78.8
Wirral 35.5 42.2 77.7
Wolverhampton 3.0 80.9 83.9

shows, by Local Education Authority, the percentage of three-year-olds that are expected to be funded through nursery education grant in this financial year. In addition, Local Education Authorities are also funding a proportion of three-year-olds via their Standard Spending Assessment allocations. This percentage is also shown. From April 2000, funding for additional new free places will be distributed across all Local Education Authorities.