§ Mr. Ronald Atkinsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many pre-school playgroups operated per 10,000 of the population in the county borough of Preston and the county of Lancashire, respectively, in the years 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1973.
§ Dr. OwenAt 31st March 1970–19721973, the number of pre-school groups of this type operated per 10,000 of the population in the County Borough of Preston and the County of Lancashire was as follows:—
For the same years the number of preschool groups of this type operated per 385W 10,000 of the population under five years of age was as follows:—
1970 1972 1973 Preston … 1.6 2.3 2.1 Lancashire … 1.5 1.6 2.0 Figures for 1971 are not available.
1970 1972 1973 Preston … 19.0 28.6 26.7 Lancashire … 17.5 19.4 24.0
§ Mr. Ronald Atkinsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many playgroups for children aged 5 to 15 years operated per 10,000 of the population in the county borough of Preston and the county of Lancashire, respectively, in the years 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1973.
§ Dr. OwenThe information requested does not exist in this form. The term "playgroup" is usually confined to schemes for the under-fives. A variety of supervised play schemes are operated by local authority social services and education departments, but information on these is not held centrally. My hon. Friend may like to know that during the five years ending in 1974–75 the following projects were provided under the urban aid programme:
Preston
An adventure playground for children from 5 to 14. open during six weeks of the summer holidays.Two play centres for children from 5 to 12, open at local infant schools during the summer holidaysLancashire
Fourteen play centres open during summer holidays, four of them operated by voluntary bodies, the others by the local authority.