§ Mrs. LiddellTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many nursery places have been made available to four-year-olds in(a) public, (b) private and
Provider Argyll and Bute East Renfrewshire Highland North Ayrshire Total Local authority 183 621 270 884 1,958 Private and voluntary1 184 340 120 664 1,308 Independent schools 0 22 0 0 22 Totals 367 983 390 1,548 23,288 1 An accurate breakdown between children attending voluntary and private sector centres is not held centrally. 2 To avoid double counting, these figures excludes those cases (cl20) where the same child receives education at more than one centre. Many new places have been created by the voucher system in the pilots—42 new local authority centres providing pre-school education for 884 voucher-bearing children have been opened, and many of the 21 existing local authority centres have expanded their provision. Moreover, 88 centres in the voluntary and private sectors, providing for over 1,300 voucher-bearing children, have received educational quality accreditation for the first time ever. The evaluation team from Stirling university, when it has reported, any throw additional light on the extent and distribution of expansion directly attributable to the voucher initiative.