§ Dan NorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in Bath and North East Somerset are benefiting from the Sure Start programme. [136338]
§ Margaret HodgeBath and North East Somerset has one Sure Start local programme. This is based in the wards of Twerton, Southdown, Westmoreland, Odd Down and Oldfield and serves 842 children under the age of four.
§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his answer of 6 October 2003,Official Report, column 1146W, on Sure Start, (1) what constitutes contact in the context of Sure Start programmes contacting children living in these areas; [133209]
(2) how many children in each of the Birkenhead Sure Start areas have been contacted by Sure Start in addition to the visit every mother of a newborn baby receives from (a) a midwife and (b) a health visitor. [133210]
§ Margaret HodgeContact by Sure Start local programmes is defined to mean that a child aged 0–3 and their parent or carer has taken up services. This might be a home visit, or participation in a centre based activity such as child care or a playgroup, parenting or smoking cessation class, or a child health check. Visits to families of new born babies include visits by programme staff, and routine visits by midwives and health visitors provided they inform the family about Sure Start services. Information is not collected separately on whether the visit to a family of a new born baby was by a member of the programme's staff, a midwife or a health visitor.
§ Martin LintonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding his Department has allocated to the Sure Start programme in Battersea constituency since its establishment; and how it has been spent. [133881]
§ Margaret HodgeSure Start Battersea has been operational since October 2000. The revenue and capital allocations and the current spend to date for the programme are shown as follows:
1489W
Revenue £ Grant allocation Actual spend 2000/01 290,000 125,252 2001/02 800,000 506,847 2002/03 855,000 855,099 2003/04 800,000 n/a Revenue funding has been used to support the development of a range of services for 0–3's and their families within the catchment area, such as outreach and home visiting, child care, support for families and primary and community health care.
Capital £ Total allocation (to be spent by October 2004) 1,075,000 Total approved 852,897 Total spend to date 326,685 Capital funding of £1,075,000 has been allocated to Sure Start Battersea of which £852,897 has been approved for a Sure Start centre at the Katherine Low Settlement, to contribute towards the re-development of an early years outdoor area at Falconbrook School and to develop local play areas.
§ Dr. Tonge:To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of children at day nurseries sponsored by Sure Start are(a) paying full fees for care and (b) receiving financial help, broken down by education authority. [136205]
§ Margaret HodgeThe Government do not collect data in this form as there are numerous sources of financial help to pay for child care costs, which can be accessed by parents.
The Government recognise that making child care affordable is a key challenge for the National Childcare Strategy and have made a substantial investment to achieve this. Working parents, subject to the level of their income, may receive support through the child care element of the Working Tax Credit. There is regional information on the numbers of families benefiting from the child care element of the Working Tax Credit but this does not include a breakdown of types of child care used.
Families are further supported through early education places, which can be used to off-set the cost of child care. As a result of our policies, all four-year-olds are able to access a free, good quality, part-time early education place. From April 2004, six months ahead of the original target, this will be extended to all three-year-olds. Currently 88 per cent. of three-year-olds are able to benefit from some level of free provision.
In addition, support is also available through various grants and access funds for parents undertaking further and higher education, for participants on the New Deals and those receiving Jobseeker's Allowance. Lone Parents participating in the New Deal for Lone Parents programme, can receive assistance with the costs of registered child care while attending job interviews, approved training and meetings with their personal advisers. The Care To Learn Scheme launched in August this year enables young parents (16–18) who are in education or training to access help with registered child care costs.
The Government are providing start-up funding to support the development of child care for children under five in disadvantaged areas. Revenue funding to support the running costs of neighbourhood nurseries over the 1490W first three years of operation is made available to eligible local authorities at a rate of £5,400 per place. This is the equivalent of £270,000 for a 50-place nursery. It is for each local authority to determine the actual rate of support to individual providers based on local circumstances and its overall funding allocation.
Where good quality child care providers are facing financial difficulties, they may apply to the local authority for sustainability funding. For 2004–06 a specific sustainability fund of some £30 million will be available to help sustain child care provision. Any provider applying for such funding must be able to show that they will be viable in the future, as sustainability funding is aimed at short term support only.
§ Dr. TongeTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children are attending Sure Start day nurseries. [136206]
§ Margaret HodgeThe information is not available in the form requested.
Ofsted do not record the number of children who are attending child care settings but record instead the maximum number of places that can be offered by providers at any one time. Each one of these places may be taken by more than one child. Ofsted publish quarterly statistics about the number of child care providers and places on their internet site, under the categories of full day care, sessional day care, child minders, out of school clubs, and crèches. The table shows the latest information on the number of places available by each of these categories.
Registered child care places in England—Position as at 30 June 2003 Number of Places1 Full day care 398,900 Child minders 307,300 Sessional day care 287,000 Out of school day care 310,100 Crãche day care 45,100 1Figures are rounded to the nearest 100 places.