HC Deb 14 June 2000 vol 351 cc631-2W
Mr. Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many additional free early years education places would be required to meet the Government's target of free places being available for 66 per cent. of three-year-olds by 2002 for(a) England and (b) each local education authority in London. [122710]

Ms Hodge

[holding answer 19 May 2000]190,000 additional new free early years education places for three-year-olds will be made available over the next three years using the £390 million allocated by the Government. This will allow us to meet the national target of providing 66 per cent. of all three-year-olds in England with a free place.

We are seeking to target those children in most social need. To this end different targets have been set with different local authorities to reflect their position on the Government's Index of Local Deprivation.

The following table shows the estimated number of new places required in the local education authorities in London to contribute to taking the national figure to 66 per cent. It also shows our estimate of the percentage of three-year-olds in each area who will have a free place by April 2001.

Local education authority area New Places required to reach national target of 66% % of children expected to have free places by April 2001
Barking and Dagenham 0 81.9
Barnet 695 51.0
Bexley 669 44.9
Brent 494 81.7
Bromley 2,022 16.0
Camden 518 80.7
City of London 2 64.0
Croydon 1,276 57.4
Ealing 0 79.7
Enfield 1,235 67.4
Greenwich 245 84.2

Local education authority area New Places required to reach national target of 66% % of children expected to have free places by April 2001
Hackney 739 86.4
Hammersmith and Fulham 297 80.5
Haringey 149 83.5
Harrow 1,195 30.1
Havering 1,158 22.0
Hillingdon 1,596 37.5
Hounslow 293 76.1
Islington 574 82.9
Kensington and Chelsea 601 71.5
Kingston upon Thames 265 52.9
Lambeth 868 84.9
Lewisham 946 82.9
Merton 0 68.6
Newham 686 88.1
Redbridge 1,221 56.0
Richmond upon Thames 771 30.5
Southwark 221 85.4
Sutton 1,264 13.2
Tower Hamlets 0 85.9
Waltham Forest 1,058 80.7
Wandsworth 1,083 78.8
Westminster 692 76.0