§ Mr. PaiceTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the total public expenditure on(a) local authority day nurseries, (b) local authority playgroups and (c) other day care facilities for each year from 1975 to 1988 in (i) cash and (ii) real terms; and what was the total number of children participating in each type of provision for each year, together with the percentage that total was of all children in the three to four years age group.
§ Mr. MellorInformation is not collected centrally on the exact age of children participating in each type of day care.
Table 1 gives the net current expenditure by local authorities for the years 1975–76 to 1986–87 inclusive. Data for 1987–88 are not yet available.
The information available centrally on the numbers of children participating in local authority provision for children under five is published annually in "Children's day care facilities, at 31 March, England" (A/F/6), copies of which are available in the Library.
Table 2 gives these figures, expressed as a percentage of all children aged three and four years.
Information for 1988 is not yet available.
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Table 2: Local authority provision of day care for children, England, 1975–87: Numbers as a percentage of children aged three and four1 Day nurseries Playgroups Child minding As at 31 March Children on registers of facilities provided by local authorities Children placed and paid for by local authorities in other facilities Children on registers of facilities provided by local authorities Children placed and paid for by local authorities in other facilities Places available with local authority provided childminders Children placed and paid for by local authorities with other childminders 1975 1.81 0.08 0.20 0.30 2— 0.05 1976 1.97 0.11 0.20 0.31 2— 0.07 1977 2.19 0.12 0.19 0.36 2— 0.09 1978 2.35 0.12 0.20 3— 3— 3— 1979 2.48 0.14 3— 0.44 3— 3— 1980 2.68 0.17 0.22 0.40 3— 3— 1981 2.90 0.18 0.24 0.39 3— 3— 1982 3.00 0.15 0.26 0.49 0.23 0.18 1983 2.91 0.13 0.28 0.63 0.20 0.22 1984 2.87 0.12 0.25 0.78 0.19 0.18 1985 2.76 0.13 0.27 0.81 0.10 0.25 1986 2.95 0.15 0.27 0.97 0.13 0.33 1987 2.93 0.15 0.28 1.03 0.15 0.42 1 Information on the exact age of children using each type of provision is not collected centrally; some children using day care provision are aged under three 2 Data not available 3 Data available, but not reliable Notes:
Information about the number of children attending family centres is not collected.