§ Chris RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the(a) number and (b) cost of publicly funded child care places in each of the last 10 years. [24969]
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§ Margaret HodgeI have been asked to reply.
In England, over 424,000 child care places, including pre-school and out of school child care places (including child minding places), have been created since April 1997. For the current financial year, 2001–02, a total of £188 million has been made available to support the creation and sustainability of good quality, affordable child care places and complementary special projects. Of the total, the Government have made £149 million available to early years development and child care partnerships, which includes £46 million from the neighbourhood nurseries initiative, and the European Social Fund has made £39 million available for special projects.