§ Mr. Watkinsonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what was the expenditure on nursery education in Gloucestershire in 1976–77 and 1977–78; and what is the planned expenditure in 1978–79;
(2) what was the expenditure on nursery education in: Worcestershire, Wiltshire, Avon, Somerset, Gwent and Hertfordshire in 1976–77 and 1977–78; and what is the planned expenditure for 1978–79.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonAnalyses of the net recurrent expenditure of each local education authority contained in "Education Estimates Statistics" for financial years 1976–77 and 1977–78 published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy—CIPFA—show no expenditure for Gloucestershire under the heading nursery education: the authority closed its only nursery school in July 1976 but will clearly have incurred some expenditure after 1st April 1976. CIPFA statistics of actual expenditure for financial years 1976–77 and 1977–78 and estimates for 1978–79 are not yet available: following is the other information requested, extracted from "Education Estimates Statistics", copies of which are avialable in the Library.
NET ESTIMATES OF RECURRENT EXPENDITURE: NURSERY EDUCATION £000 Financial years 1976–77* 1977–78† Avon 1,007 697 Somerset 66 72 Wiltshire 12 17 Hereford and Worcester. 96 112 Gwent 1,231 923 Hertfordshire 1,661 1,608 * 1976–77 estimates at 1976 Survey prices. † 1977–78 estimates at 1977 Survey prices.