§ Mr. JackTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on his assessment of whether its proposed levels of retained funding for 2004–05 will leave local education authorities with sufficient funds to meet their obligations to provide universal support for all three-year-olds from April 2004. [136891]
§ Mr. MilibandDraft Regulations placing limits on the sums that local education authorities can retain for central expenditure within their Schools Budget in 2004–05 were published, for consultation, on 29 October. A copy of the draft Regulations has been placed in the Library of the House.
The draft Regulations recognise that some authorities will need to increase their central expenditure in order to deliver universal three year-old nursery provision, and, in placing limits on central expenditure, specifically allow for such increases.