§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list for(a) England and (b) each local education authority in Hampshire the number of three-year-olds with free early years education places providing five or more sessions of education per week in (i) 1979, (ii) 1990 and (iii) each year from 1992 to 1999. [115964]
§ Ms Hodge[holding answer 23 March 2000]: The latest available January census information on three-year-olds educated in maintained schools is shown in the following table.
Places for 46,000 children have been created in 64 local authorities with the greatest social need, from the £40 million Nursery Education Grant made available during 1999–2000. Expenditure of £390 million is being made available over the three financial years 1999–2000 to 2001–02 to increase by 190,000 the number of new, free, good quality, early education places for three-year-olds. The priority is to reach those three-year-olds in social need who could most benefit from a free nursery place.
Information on three-year-olds educated in maintained schools for January 2000 is currently being collected as are the actual figures for three-year-old places created in the private and voluntary sector from September 1999 onwards. Provisional estimates of both sets of figures are expected to be published in a Statistical First Release in May.
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Numbers of full and part-time pupils aged three1 in maintained schools2 in Hampshire local education authority area and in England: 1979, 1990 and 1992–99 (position as at January each year) England Hampshire3 Portsmouth3 Southampton3 Hampshire4 Part-time Full-time Part-time Full-time Part-time Full-time Part-time Full-time Part-time Full-time 1993 231,907 26,014 5— 5— 5— 5— 5— 5— 1,533 35 1992 225,521 25,579 5— 5— 5— 5— 5— 5— 1,542 18 1990 200,397 25,294 5— 5— 5— 5— 5— 5— 1,485 40 1979 88,372 26,330 5— 5— 5— 5— 5— 5— 769 43 1 Ages as at start of academic year (31 August) 2 Includes maintained nursery, primary and special schools 3 Local education authority areas created after the Local Government Re-organisation in April 1997 4 Before the Local Government Re-organisation in April 1997 5 Not applicable for that year