§ Mrs. Dunwoodyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he has any plans to encourage the expansion of nursery accommodation for the under fives; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. DunnChapter 4 of the White Paper "Better Schools" (Cmnd. 9469) sets out the Government's policy on the education of the under-fives, including resources. While our plans for expenditure on education allow for provision attributable to the under-fives to continue within broadly the same totals as today, it is for the local education authorities to determine the scale and nature of such provision in particular areas, in the light of their assessment of local needs and priorities.
a. Local Authority Capital Expenditure on Under-Fives* £ million 1981–82 outturn 1982–83 outturn 1983–84 outturn 1984–85 Provisional outturn cash 9.9 3.9 5.3 9.3 real terms ‡ 11.5 4.2 5.5 9.3
b. Total Urban Programme Expenditure-Education‡ £ million 1981–82 outturn 1982–83 outturn 1983–84 outturn 1984–85 Provisional outturn capital: cash terms‡ 9.8 13.4 13.9 13.6 real terms‡ 11.4 14.6 14.5 13.6 current: cash 24.7 21.9 25.3 23.0 real terms‡ 28.8 23.9 26.4 23.0 total: cash‡ 34.5 35.3 39.2 36.6 real termst‡ 40.2 38.5 40.9 36.6 * Includes capital expenditure on under-fives made under the Urban Programme.
† No breakdown of urban programme expenditure between sectors is available.
‡ Real terms are the cash expenditure for each year repriced using the gross domestic product (market prices) deflator (base year 1984–85).