§ Ms HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the average charge for an(a) childminder, (b) private nursery place and (c) local authority nursery place for children aged (i) nil to one, (ii) one to two and (iii) two to three years in each local authority. [114792]
§ Ms HodgeThe Department does not have information on child care costs in the detailed form requested.
Research commissioned by the DfEE last year, "Parents' Demand for Childcare", includes information on households' payments for child care. Among households with one or two children in England and Wales, the average hourly cost of child care was £1.93 per child. The cost varied between regions and was on average £1.62 in the north of England and the Midlands, and £2.22 in the south.
Nationally, registered childminders were paid on average £2.51 per hour and nursery provision on average cost £2.11 per hour. In the south, households paid on average £2.68 per hour to registered childminders and £2.52 for nursery provision. The survey sample size does not enable similar analysis for the north and Midlands.
In this analysis nursery provision covers all types of nurseries, including nursery classes, independent day nurseries as well as nurseries run by local authorities.