§ Mr. PaiceTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the number of three and four-year-olds attending private and voluntary sector (i) nursery schools and (ii) playgroups in Cambridgeshire together with the percentage of the total number of three and four-year-olds in Cambridgeshire which these represent; and what is the cost of local authority support for each category(a) in total and (b) per place for the latest year in which figures are available.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe information requested is not available centrally in the form requested.
In January 1989, in Cambridgeshire, 117 children attended non-maintained schools registered with the Department of Education and Science. Private and voluntary nursery schools are registered with the local authorities under the Nurseries and Childminders Regulation Act 1948. Information held centrally relates to numbers of places in day nurseries, playgroups and with childminders. Places in nursery schools are not identified as a separate category. This information is published in "Children's Day Care Facilities". The most recent relates to the year ending 31 March 1988, a copy of which is in the Library. Statistics relating to the rate per 1,000 population are calculated on the total number of children aged under five. The number of children under five attending non-maintained schools in Cambridgeshire represents 2.64 per 1,000 children aged under five.
The cost of local authority social services departments support in total was £19,000 for day nurseries and £13,000 for play groups for the year ending 31 March 1988. These figures expressed as an average for each place in voluntary and private provision was some £30 per place for day nurseries and £2 per place in playgroups. Some of the private and voluntary providers may have received no support.
§ Mr. PaiceTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list(a) the number and location of (i) local authority day nurseries and (ii) local authority playgroups in Cambridgeshire together with the number of places available in each location and the percentage of the total number of three and four-year-olds in Cambridgeshire which these places represent (b) the total cost of providing and supporting each category (c) the average cost per child place in each category in Cambridgeshire and (d) the national average cost per child place for each category.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyInformation is not available centrally as to the location of these facilities. The number of premises and the total number of places for each 131W authority is published in "Children's Day Care Facilities"; the most recent relates to the year ending 31 March 1988 and a copy is in the Library.
Children under three may attend local authority day nurseries or playgroups. The number of places is shown as a rate per 1,000 of all children under five.
The net current expenditure by Cambridgeshire in the year ended 31 March 1988 was £467,000 on day nurseries and £129,000 on playgroups.
The net current cost expressed as an average cost per child place at 31 March 1988 in each category in Cambridgeshire in the year ended 31 March 1988 was £2.8 thousand per place for day nurseries and £0.2 thousand per place for playgroups.
The equivalent figure for England per child place for each category was for £3,400 per place for day nurseries and £2,400 per place for playgroups.