§ Mr. ByersTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to include in the parents charter an entitlement to nursery education for three and four-year-olds.
§ Mr. ByersTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what research his Department has carried out into the benefits of nursery education; and if he will commission new research.
§ Mr. ForthWithin the last 10 years the Department has supported the child health and education study cohort project which included work on shorter and longer-term effects of pre-school provision. It also supported a review of this and other research projects in 1985–87 by Professor Margaret Clark, whose report "Children under five: Educational Research and Evidence" is available in the Library. The Department keeps under review the need for research on these as on other issues.
§ Mr. ByersTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to provide finance to allow grant-maintained primary schools to provide nursery places.
§ Mr. ForthSelf-governing schools providing nursery education receive in annual maintenance grant an 123W amount based on the level of funding they could have expected to receive for that provision from the former maintaining local education authority. The Department recoups the full cost of annual maintenance grant from the relevant LEA.
§ Mr. ByersTo ask the Secretary of State for Education if a proposal to no longer maintain nursery provision in a primary school would be regarded as a significant change of character.