Nursery Education (Hansard, 25 January 1980)

§ Dr. Boyson

I give below the text of a letter sent by my Department to Oxfordshire county council on 23 November and of the reply by the county secretary on 30 November The county secretary wrote again on 21 January about the meeting proposed in his earlier letter and arrangements for this are now in hand.

P. J. Floyd Esq., M.A.

County Secretary,

County Hall,

Oxford,

OX1 1ND.

23 November 1979

Dear Sir, I am writing to draw your attention to the answer which the Secretary of State gave to Mr. Beith in the House today to a question as to whether the Secretary of State will use his statutory default powers to ensure that nursery education continues to be provided in Oxfordshire following the decision of Oxfordshire County Council to dose all nursery schools and classes. The Secretary of State replied as follows. No. I am writing to Oxfordshire County Council to ask them to give me details of the decision they are reported to have taken and of its implications. I should be glad to receive at your convenience the information which the Secretary of State is seeking. A copy of this letter is going to Brighouse, with whom I spoke this morning. You, or he, or other colleagues, may welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter with a group of us here after the information requested has been supplied. We are at your disposal. Yours faithfully, J. H. Thompson

J. H. Thompson, Esq.,

Department of Education and Science,

Elizabeth House,

York Road,

London SE1 7PH.

30th November 1979

Dear Sir,

Nursery Education

Thank you for your letter of 23rd November 1979. In July 1979 the County Council considered the Government's request to reduce expenditure in 1979–80 to a level 3 per cent. below that 403W implied by the previous Government's Rate Support Grant settlement. Because Oxfordshire had made substantial economies both in expenditure and manpower since 1975–76, the Council decided not to comply with this general request in 1979–80 because they felt that instant cuts would be both unreasonable and impossible to achieve, and concluded that:

(a) a supplementary precept of 5p should be levied to cover the cost increases which arose from the breakdown of the previous Government's pay and prices policy; and
(b) to plan for phased reductions of expenditure amounting in all to 3 per cent. over the three financial years 1980–81–1982–83.

Subsequently, on 31st July, the Secretary of State announced that there was to be a further 1 per cent. reduction (making 4 per cent. in all) in 1980–81's planned expenditure. In the light of this, at their meeting on 13th November 1979, the Council considered in more detail their policy for 1980–81 and the two suceeding years; the Council had before them a number of specific measures aimed at reducing expenditure by £0.82 million in 1980–81, £1.82 million in 1981–82 and £2.82 million in 1982–83. In relation to the Education Committee's share of the above reductions in the second and third years, the Council were faced with having to decide between retaining nursery education in its present form or providing sufficient teachers to protect a minimum curriculum, particularly in secondary schools. In the event, the Council decided to opt for the latter and to provide for twenty more school teachers in each of the next three years for curriculum protection purposes. The Council has, therefore, asked the Education Committee to submit proposals for the closure of nursery education to the extent that a reduction of £214,500 in 1981–82 will be achieved from expenditure of £464,000 in 1979–80 and £386,500 in 1982–83. As a result, there will remain £77,500 available in 1982–83 and succeeding years and the Council have instructed the Education Committee to submit proposals on how this should be utilised to make provision for the under-fives. The Chief Education Officer will, therefore, be bringing forward early in the new year a detailed report containing (a) recommendations as to which of the County's existing nursery buildings will require to be closed, and (b) proposals to utilise the available resources for under-fives. As to timing, no nursery building will be closed before July 1981 at the earliest and the new proposals for under-fives could well start in certain areas of the county in September 1980. It is envisaged that after a transitional period the provision of education for under-fives in Oxfordshire will be more evenly distributed throughout the county than it is at present. We would certainly welcome the opportunity of talking to you and your colleagues about this matter and would suggest that a date and time be agreed as soon as posible. If appropriate, our party would include the Leader of the Council and the Chairman of the Education Committee. as well as the relevant officers.

Yours faithfully,

P. J. Floyd, County Secretary