§ Mr. Thomas Coxasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the total number of children attending nursery schools in each of the regions of England; and what percentage this represents of children under the age of 5.
§ Dr. BoysonIn January 1979, the latest date for which the information is available, the figures were as follows:
FULL-TIME AND PART-TIME PUPILS UNDER 5 YEARS IN MAINTAINED NURSERY SCHOOLS AND NURSERY CLASSES IN MAINTAINED PRIMARY SCHOOLS Region Number of pupils Percentage of estimated population aged 3 and 4 years North 21,485 28 Yorkshire and Humberside 31,073 26 North West 34,530 21 East Midlands 20,123 21 West Midlands 27,285 21 East Anglia 3,930 8 South East Greater London 39,582 26 Other South East 26,679 11 South West 5,561 6 England 210,248 18
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what advice he has given to local authorities about the provision of nursery education.
§ Dr. BoysonIn paragraph 31 of the recent White Paper "The Government's 343W Expenditure Plans 1980–81" local authorities were advised that
it should be possible to maintain expenditure on the under-fives at about the present level".