HC Deb 20 July 1998 vol 316 cc387-8W
Mr. Kirkwood

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will list for each local education authority area the provision of nursery places to be provided by non-statutory bodies and private providers in the academic year 1998–99; [50426]

(2) if he will estimate the number of children currently attending nurseries provided by private providers who will not be able to continue to do so in the academic year 1998–99 because the facilities have been withdrawn by the local education authority. [50427]

Mr. Wilson

The number and distribution of grant funded pre-school education places which local authorities will commission in school year 1998–99 from partner centres will not be known accurately until the autumn. Estimates have however been received from each authority and the information is set out in the table.

It is likely there will be some parents of pre-school year children in the school year 1998–99 who, because their local authority has decided not to commission places from their preferred registered provider, will have to decide whether to move their child to another centre which is grant-eligible or to pay for a place at their preferred provider themselves. A reliable estimate of the number of parents so affected would however require data which are not collected centrally.

Estimated number of pre-school education places to be commissioned by local authorities from registered partner providers in the voluntary and private sectors
Local authority Number of places
Aberdeen City 600
Aberdeenshire 100
Angus 30
Argyll and Bute 469
Clackmannanshire 43
Dumfries and Galloway 100
Dundee City 0
East Ayrshire 0
East Dunbartonshire 300
East Lothian 120
East Renfrewshire 170
City of Edinburgh 680
Falkirk 0
Fife 120
City of Glasgow 150
Highland 417
Inverclyde 170
Midlothian 0
Moray 120
North Ayrshire 600
North Lanarkshire 524
Orkney Islands 6
Perth and Kinross 190

Estimated number of pre-school education places to be commissioned by local authorities from registered partner providers in the voluntary and private sectors
Local authority Number of places
Renfrewshire 200
Scottish Borders 100
Shetland Islands 73
South Ayrshire 20
South Lanarkshire 630
Stirling 30
West Dunbartonshire 0
West Lothian 15
Western Isles 233
Scotland 6,210

Mr. Kirkwood

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the criteria to be used to review the way that local education authorities have exercised their discretion in entering into local partnerships with private sector organisations to provide nursery places for the academic year 1998–99. [50425]

Mr. Wilson

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 21 April 1998,Official Report, column 585.

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