HC Deb 13 May 2002 vol 385 cc486-7W
Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children's places there were in(a) Southwark, (b) London and (c) England in (i) May 1997, (ii) May 2001 and (iii) April 2002; and if she will make a statement. [52033]

Margaret Hodge

[holding answer 2 May 2002]: The information is not available in the form requested. The available information, which was provided by local authorities, is shown in the table.

Latest figures on day care facilities in England were published by my Department in the Statistical Bulletin "Children's Day Care facilities at 31 March 2001 (08/01)" in October 2001, a copy of which is available from the Library. An electronic copy of this publication is also available on my Department's website (www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics).

From 1998 to 2001 Southwark has received £837,370 of child care and European Social Fund supported grant funding. In 2001–02 £240,765 of European Social Fund money and £2,961,854 of child care funding was available for Southwark's early years development. Of this £2,301,424 is funding from the Neighbourhood Nursery Initiative (NNI), which hopes to create 45,000 child care places in Neighbourhood Nursery Centres in disadvantaged areas over the period 2001–04. In 2002–03 Southwark will receive £754,430 of child care and European Social Fund supported grant funding.

Day care places for children under 8 in 1997 and 2001—Southwark, London and England (position at March 31 each year)
Day nurseries Childminders Playgroups Out of school clubs Holiday schemes1
1997 2001 1997 2001 1997 2001 1997 2001 1997 2001
Southwark 1,650 1,906 1,048 1,081 1,111 904 2,077 3,113 2,305 4,940
Greater London 27,650 44,834 47,562 38,504 41,534 31,111 13,731 32,207 45,574 140,261
Inner London2 15,052 22,751 13,106 10,639 9,899 8,405 8,180 20,422 19,210 63,180
Outer London2 12,598 22,083 34,456 27,865 31,635 22,706 5,551 11,785 26,364 77,081
England 193,800 285,100 365,200 304,600 383,700 330,200 78,700 152,800 209,000 598,000
1Holiday schemes cannot be directly compared due to changes in instructions given to data providers.
2The 2001 definition of inner and outer London is used.