HC Deb 14 March 1994 vol 239 cc526-7W
Ms Harman

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his Department spends on child care provision for the under-fives and out-of school provision for children aged over five either directly, excluding provision for departmental staff, or indirectly through resources made available to local authorities or other organisations; what form of provision is thereby provided; how many places are thereby provided; and if he will make a statement on child care.

Mr. Gwilym Jones

Welsh Office circular 13/93 stated that the Government see a continuing need for expansion in the range and scale of day care services available to parents and children. It referred to the duty on local authorities under the Children Act 1989 to review the level and pattern of such services, including those available through the medium of Welsh, and to the basis this would provide for planning future provision for their area.

Tables 11.1 and 11.2 of "Activities of Social Services Departments: Year Ended 31 March 1992" show, for example, that numbers of places with registered childminders and in day nurseries have increased by 71. per cent. and 207 per cent. respectively since 1988. Nearly 70 per cent. of children aged three and four attend a maintained school. Detailed figures are contained in "Statistics of Education and Training in Wales: Schools No. 2 1994".

Local authority resources provided under the local government revenue settlement are unhypothecated. It is for each local authority to decide in line with its statutory duties and local needs and priorities how much they provide for these services.

No information is held centrally about expenditure on child care provision by the national health service in Wales.

The Welsh Office has made available £153,000 in 1993–94 for after school and holiday care through the out-of-school grant initiative which the Chwarae Teg consortium is co-ordinating on behalf of the training and enterprise councils. No information is yet available on numbers of places provided. Grants in support of child and family services and for the promotion of the Welsh language, together amounting to some £1,180,000, have gone to voluntary organisations whose members provide day care service for children under eight.