HC Deb 13 May 2002 vol 385 cc489-90W
Chris Grayling

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children are in maintained nursery education. [54888]

Margaret Hodge

The available information on the number of three and four-year-old children in maintained nursery schools and nursery classes in maintained primary schools is shown in the table.

The figures for three and four-year-olds in schools and private and voluntary providers were published in Statistical Bulletin 11/01 "Provision for children under five years of age in England-January 2001" which is available at www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics/ and from the Library.

Number and percentage of three and four-year-olds1,2 in maintained nursery schools and nursery classes in maintained primary schools: England—1997—2001
Position in January each year
Number3 Percentage
1997 367,400 29
1998 368,400 29
1999 366,900 30
2000 362,700 30
20014 — —
1Head count of children aged three and four at 31 December in the previous calendar year, rounded to the nearest 100.
2Numbers of three and four-year-olds may include some two-year-olds.
3Number attending provider expressed as a percentage of three and four-year-old population.
4This information is not available for 2001 due to the transition to new methods of data collection.