HC Deb 12 December 1985 vol 88 cc731-2W
Mr. McTaggart

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what were the numbers of day care places and nursery places provided by Scottish local authorities in each year since 1978–79; and what proportion of the under-five years population in Scotland these numbers represented in each year.

Mr. John MacKay

The information is as follows:

Year at 31 March Places available Number of place available per 1,000 population under five
Day Nurseries
1979 3,738 11.5
1980 3,645 11.4
1981 3,853 12.0
1982 3,792 11.9
1983 3,679 11.4
1984 3,685 11.2
1985 *3,829 11.7
Playgroups
1979 …891 ‡2.7
1980 967 3.0
1981 919 2.9
1982 717 2.3
1983 1,107 3.4
1984 1,207 3.7
1985 *2,077 6.3

* Provisional.

…umber of children attending.

‡ Number of children attending per 1,000 population.

Nursery Schools and Classes
Number of places Number of pupils Number of Pupils as a percentage of 3 &4-year-old Population
1978–79 22,469 31,326 23.1
1979–80 24,724 31,770 24.0
1980–81 25,508 32,472 25.8
1981–82 25,367 33,178 28.0
1982–83 25,512 34,682 28.1
1983–84 26,758 36,650 28.3
1984–85 27,660 37,867 28.4

Notes:

(1) The numbers of places and pupils relate to September in each year. The number of pupils is known to rise during the session due to staggered intakes.

(2) The numbers of pupils include full-time and part-time places.

Back to
Forward to