§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what plans he has to require LEAs to monitor and provide advisory support to private and voluntary sector providers of early years education; [28902]
(2) what plans he has regularly to monitor the quality of public, private and voluntary sector provision of early years education; [28903]
(3) what plans he has to monitor the quality of and provide support to the private and voluntary early years education place providers in North Yorkshire. [28904]
§ Ms Estelle MorrisAll private and voluntary sector providers included in an Early Years Development Plan and in receipt of grant funding will be subject to regular inspection by a Registered Nursery Inspector recruited, trained and registered by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools. Providers registered under the Children Act 1989 will also be subject to the normal inspection arrangements under that Act. We will shortly be consulting on the current regulatory regimes and how to bring them closer together.
The Early Years Development Plan should indicate how local authorities intend to raise standards of provision whilst maintaining a wide range of providers. This should include, among other aspects of quality assurance, details on how progress will be made towards the involvement of a qualified teacher in raising standards in all settings.
§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what plans he has to allow LEAs to state a minimum requirement of free places that have to be offered by private or voluntary providers to entitle them to be included in an Early Years Development Plan; [28901]
(2) what is the minimum number of places a private or voluntary provider of early years education has to have in order that they can be included in a LEA Early Years Development Plan. [28905]
291W
§ Ms Estelle MorrisProviders which satisfy the eligibility criteria can be included in an Early Years Development Plan as long as they have at least one place available for an eligible four year old.
Early Years Development Plans cannot include providers who, in addition to receiving grant, charge parents fees for the minimum early education entitlement of five two and a half hour sessions a week for 33 weeks in a year. Where parents are willing to pay, private, voluntary and independent sector providers can charge for additional services (such as a longer session or associated daycare). However, they must agree with the Partnership a maximum number of places which will be offered to parents giving the minimum early education entitlement for the grant alone, with no requirement on the parent to buy additional services. It will be for the provider and Partnership to agree how many such places will be offered, based on an assessment of local demand, but for the provider to be included in the Plan there must be at least one such place.