§ Mr. BradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of three-year-olds in Trafford are in receipt of a free early education place. [25994]
§ Margaret Hodge[holding answer 11 January 2002]: We are committed to providing all three-year-olds, whose parents want one, with a free nursery education place by September 2004. We have recently announced details of the £275 million of funding we are making available to provide free early education places for three-year-olds in 2002–03. This funding has been initially allocated according to the position of an authority on the Government's Index of Multiple Deprivation. As a result, Trafford LEA has been allocated £335,000 of this funding to provide 275 free early education places.
Estimates of the percentage of three-year-olds already provided with a place are used nationally for internal planning and monitoring. However, accurate local population figures are not available to the Department, although local authorities may choose to make their own estimates based on local data.