HC Deb 12 January 2004 vol 416 cc573-5W
Mr. Simmonds

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many extra child care places have been created in each year since 1997; [145266]

(2) how many child care places have been created in the 20 per cent. most disadvantaged wards in each year since 1997. [145269]

Margaret Hodge

The available information is shown in the table.

New child care places1
New child care places England2 New child care places net of closures, England2 New child care places net of closures, 20 per cent. Most disadvantaged wards in England, estimated3
1997–98 7,500 6,000 n/a
1998–99 66,200 53,000 n/a
1999–2000 133,000 67,800 n/a
2000–01 168,200 87,000 n/a
2001–02 139,800 82,800 41,800
2002–03 185,400 87,300 59,600
1 All figures relate to financial years and are rounded to the nearest hundred places. Child care places are defined to include: places for pre-school children which last three-and-a-half hours or longer per day, in day nurseries or with childminders; places for children receiving nursery education which, combined with the nursery education, total at least three-and-a-half hours per day; and places for statutory school age children aged up to 14 (16 for those with special educational needs or disabilities) in breakfast or after school clubs or with childminders for any length of time, or in holiday play schemes of three and a half hours or longer per day.
2 Figures from 1999–2000 onwards are drawn from local authorities' quarterly child care returns. Figures for 1997–98 and 1998–99 relate only to child care places directly funded by Government.
3 This information was not collected prior to 2001–02. Figures are drawn from local authorities' Early Years Development and Childcare Plans, and reflect their estimated position at 31 March 2002 and 31 March 2003.

Mr. Simmonds

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much funding has been made available for child care for each year since 1997. [145267]

Margaret Hodge

As published in the Department for Education and Skills Departmental Report 2003, expenditure was:

£ million
Sure Start Early Years and Childcare Total
1997–98 — 1,203 1,203
1998–99 — 1,349 1,349
1999–2000 7 1,486 1,493
2000–01 56 1,652 1,708
2001–02 134 1,823 1,957
2002–03 210 2,114 2,324

Note:

The 2002–03 expenditure quoted reflects actual expenditure as opposed to the estimates contained in the Departmental Report.

The Early Years and Childcare figures include early education funding (Under Fives Block) to local authorities.

Mr. Simmonds

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many registered child minders there were in England and Wales in each year since 1997. [145268]

Margaret Hodge

Figures are only available for England. Child care is a devolved issue.

Data on the number of registered child minders was recorded by the Day Care Facilities Study from 1997 to 2001. In September 2001 Ofsted took over the registration of places and undertook a 'cleansing' exercise to delete all registered childminders who were no longer operating. This exercise was undertaken throughout 2001–02, therefore there are no figures available for registered child minders for 2002. Ofsted published their March 2003 data in June.

Registered child minders 1997–2003 are as follows:

Number
1997 98,500
1998 94,700
1999 82,200
2000 75,600
2001 72,300
2002 n/a
2003 68,200

Although there was a constant decline in childminders year on year to 2003, the number of child minders is now showing a steady increase month on month. Ofsted data at September 2003 shows an increase in the number of operational child minders of 2,000 since March 2003.

Tim Loughton

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many childcare places there are in England. [145662]

Margaret Hodge

This is a matter for Ofsted. The HM Chief Inspector, David Bell, will write to the hon. Member and a copy of his letter will be placed in the Library.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the Government are doing to extend the availability of affordable, good quality child care. [146259]

Margaret Hodge

The Government have funded a major expansion in child care through their National Childcare Strategy. Since 1997, 808,000 new places have been created, benefiting well over 1.4 million children. Following the more than doubling in child care expenditure agreed as part of the 2002 Spending Review, the number of children benefiting from new places will rise to over 2 million by 2006.

Specific initiatives such as Sure Start local programmes, Neighbourhood Nurseries and our new Children's Centres, are extending high quality child care in disadvantaged communities, increasingly provided alongside early education and health and family support.

Our National Standards set a benchmark of quality below which no registered child care provider should fall arid Ofsted inspects against these Standards.

Substantial help with child care costs is provided to lower and middle income families through the child care element of the working tax credit. The Chancellor announced new plans in his Pre Budget Report in December to encourage employer supported child care from April 2005 through tax exemptions of up to £50 per week for employees.