§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many meetings he has had with local authority representatives to discuss nursery provision. [22381]
§ Mr. WilsonNeither my right hon. Friend nor I have had meetings with COSLA expressly for this purpose. However, officials met COSLA on 29 August 1997 to discuss pre-school education generally, and have also met 14 local education authorities individually as part of an ongoing programme of liaison visits on pre-school education provision. COSLA and a number of individual 121W authorities are part of a standing liaison group between officials and pre-school education providers in all the sectors. There are other contacts with local authorities in various fora, such as ADES. I published a major consultation paper on the future of pre-school education last November, a copy of which is available in the Library; the closing date for responses is 6 February.