§ Mr. RichardsTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what estimate he has made of the number of children who will take up the nursery voucher scheme and the voucher income accruing in each local education authority area; [21075]
(2) what estimate he has made of (a) the number of children who will take up the nursery voucher scheme in (i) the private sector and (ii) the independent sector and (b) the corresponding voucher income in each local authority area. [21050]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansOn the basis of the estimates from local education authorities of the number of voucher-bearing children in their schools in the 1997 summer term, the total annual income for each authority would be:
Authority Estimate of numbers £ income Anglesey 650 715,000 Blaenau Gwent 1,100 1,210,000 Bridgend 1,309 1,439,900 Caerphilly 2,148 2,362,800 Cardiff 3,400 3,740,000 Carmarthenshire 2,100 2,310,000 Ceredigion 750 825,000 Conwy 1,066 1,172,600 Denbighshire 900 990,000 Flintshire 1,763 1,939,300 Gwynedd 1,267 1,393,700 Merthyr Tydfil 750 825,000 Monmouthshire 636 699,600 Neath Port Talbot 1,640 1,804,000 Newport 1,850 2,035,000 Pembrokeshire 1,370 1,507,000 Powys 1,552 1,707,200 RCT 2,770 3,047,000 Swansea 2,535 2,788,500 Torfaen 1,081 1,189,100 Vale of Glamorgan 1,512 1,663,200 Wrexham 1,585 1,743,500 The number of voucher-bearing children in the private and independent sectors will not be known until those 714W vouchers are redeemed. Some 450 schools, nurseries and play groups in private and voluntary sectors are registered to take part in the voucher scheme from April.