§ Ms. Harmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his most recent estimate of the number of childminders who are not registered.
§ Mr. NewtonIt is not possible to give a reliable estimate of the number of unregistered childminders.
§ Ms. Harmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what percentage of children under five years is cared for by registered childminders;
(2) how many registered childminders there are in each local authority area;
(3) in respect of how many children each local authority pays the cost of childminders;
(4) how many children in each local authority area are looked after by registered childminders.
§ Mr. NewtonFigures on the number of children cared for by childminders are not collected centrally. The attached table provides provisional figures for 31 March 1983 for each local authority area, giving the number of registered childminders, the number of children paid for by the local authority and the total number of places. The number of registered childminders has increased from 35,800 in 1979. Local authorities and voluntary bodies, particularly the National Childminding Association, have been working to spread knowledge among minders of the legal requirement for and the benefits of registration.
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Children paid for by local authority Registered childminders LA places Children paid for in non LA places Total places (1) (2) (3) (4) Wigan 260 0 0 624 Knowsley 32 0 0 62 Liverpool 141 25 1 508 Sefton 152 0 5 351 St. Helens 164 0 0 330 Wirral 160 0 0 379 Hereford/Vorcester 752 140 51 1,450 Shropshire 380 0 6 753 Staffordshire 1,814 0 11 4,463 Warwickshire 593 0 75 1,227 Birmingham 849 85 0 2,268 Coventry 423 0 0 746 Dudley 163 0 0 311 Sandwell 247 0 0 507 Solihull 325 0 0 650 Walsall 143 0 0 330 Wolverhampton* 112 0 0 241 Derbyshire 685 0 0 1,316 Leicestershire 1,496 0 16 2,869 Lincolnshire 378 0 8 664 Northamptonshire 613 0 14 1,148 Nottinghamshire 789 11 4 1,746 Bedfordshire 580 0 10 1,269 Berkshire** 694 335 57 1,445 Buckinghamshire 984 0 13 2,080 Cambridgeshire 867 0 0 1,550 Essex 1,283 136 15 2,588 Hertfordshire 1,386 0 41 2,429 Norfolk 613 0 65 1,425 Oxfordshire 739 0 52 1,500 Suffolk 776 0 20 1,324 Camden 212 322 33 370 Greenwich 27 33 0 33 Hackney 292 620 17 648 Hammersmith 220 44 0 486 Islington 222 365 59 493 Kensington 89 0 12 185 Lambeth* 378 19 4 782 Lewisham 534 22 79 957 Southwark 303 0 73 643 Tower Hamlets** 137 0 0 350 Wands worth 534 0 297 1,444 Westminster 112 32 0 216 City of London 0 0 0 0 Barking 118 0 0 228 Barnet 477 0 17 753 Bexley 300 0 25 568 Brent 674 0 0 2,129 Bromley 362 0 14 746 Croydon 620 24 0 1,137 Ealing 457 2,350 0 2,350 Enfield 386 0 34 752 Haringey 427 0 239 966 Harrow 377 0 38 732 Havering 164 0 1 333 Hillingdon 383 0 0 519 Hounslow 333 0 29 706 Kingston upon Thames†† 375 2 2 618 Merton 198 0 32 400 Newham 402 0 13 841 Redbridge 330 0 8 606 Richmond upon Thames 223 0 0 558 Sutton 304 0 38 504 Waltham Forest 323 0 107 0 Dorset 460 0 9 901 Hampshire 1,622 0 79 4,524 Isle of Wight 90 0 5 180 Kent** 1,438 0 58 4,490 Surrey 1,463 0 56 3,263 East Sussex 543 0 41 832 West Sussex 704 0 50 1,187 Wiltshire 461 0 59 1,245 Avon 779 0 120 1,997
Children paid for by local authority Registered childminders LA places Children paid for in non LA places Total places (1) (2) (3) (4) Cornwall 255 0 12 489 Devon 530 3 35 1,134 Gloucestershire 496 0 14 1,435 Isles of Scilly* 0 0 0 0 Somerset 434 0 0 1,277 England 47,725 4,839 2,404 105,270
§ Ms. Harmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many prosecutions there have been in each of the past 14 years under the Nurseries and Childminders Regulation Act 1948, as amended, for unregistered childminding.
§ Mr. NewtonThis information is not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
§ Ms. Harmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many local authority personnel service childminders there are in each local authority area.
§ Mr. NewtonThe information requested is not available centrally and could be collected only at disproportionate cost.