§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what further spending will be made available for nursery places in Lancashire.[8419]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Department for Education and Skills will notify Lancashire local education authority of its allocation of nursery education places for 2002–03 shortly.
§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many free nursery places were not taken up in Lancashire in the last 12 months.[8420]
§ Mr. TimmsCentral Government made available sufficient funding for Lancashire local education authority to provide 5,008 free early education places for three-year-olds in 2001–02. In both the summer and autumn terms all of those places were taken up. Those places are in addition to those made available by the local education authority. We are unable to comment on the take-up of free places made available by Lancashire local education authority from its own resources.