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Executive Agencies

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what action heads of her Department's executive agencies are taking to safeguard the provision of pre-retirement courses; and if she will make a statement. [9150]

Mr. Robin Squire: The Employment Service offers, on a voluntary basis, pre-retirement courses to people approaching retirement. These courses will continue to be offered in future.

The staff in the Teachers Pensions Agency, being employees of the Department for Education and Employment, are invited to attend a pre-retirement course when approaching retirement. There are no plans to discontinue the practice of providing pre-retirement courses for these staff.

Provision of pre-retirement courses forms part of the recommended standards of principal civil service pension scheme service quality and delivery published by Cabinet Office (Office of Public Service).

15 Jan 1996 : Column: 468

Nursery Education

Ms Estelle Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has made to enable local education authorities to recoup the costs of providing nursery education for children who are resident in neighbouring local education authorities; and if she plans to put the recoupment on a statutory basis. [8718]

Mr. Robin Squire: Local education authorities can recoup the costs of providing nursery education for pupils who are resident in neighbouring areas under voluntary agreements. My right hon. Friend has no immediate plans to remove such local discretion but will keep all the funding arrangements for nursery education under review.

Ms Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what action she is taking to make sure that adequate resources are available for the provision of pre-school education for special needs children. [9052]

Mr. Squire: Vouchers will be available for all four year-olds. The responsibilities of local authorities to identify and make a statutory assessment of those children who may need a statement, to make a statement where appropriate and to satisfy themselves that provision is made available in accordance with the statement, remain unchanged.

We are also considering requiring all providers in the private and voluntary sectors to have regard to the special education needs code of practice. We will discuss the impact of such a requirement with interested parties during the first phase.

Ms Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what financial arrangements she will make to assist local education authorities who wish to offer education for under-fives on a full-time basis. [8725]

Mr. Squire: Local education authority budgets will be reduced by the voucher value only in respect of each four-year-old in a maintained school, taking termly attendance into account. Where LEAs spend in excess of the voucher value, on full-time places or otherwise, they will retain the funding to do so.

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimates her Department has made of shortfalls in respect of places for four-year-olds in (a) Wandsworth, (b) Westminster, (c) Kensington and Chelsea and (d) Norfolk expressed as (i) the number and (ii) the percentage of all four-year-olds in each local education authority. [8934]

Mr. Squire: Estimates of participation become less reliable when broken down by both year group and local education authority area. However, the best estimates of the number and percentage of four-year-olds in January 1995 in the phase 1 LEAs without a place in the maintained sector are given in the table:

LEA	Estimated number of four year olds without a place in the maintained sector in January 1995	Estimated percentage of four year olds without a place in the maintained sector in January 1995
Wandsworth	700	20
Westminster	800	40
Kensington and Chelsea	850	50
Norfolk	3000	30

15 Jan 1996 : Column: 469

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what measures she will be taking to evaluate the impact of the nursery voucher scheme on provision for three-year-olds; [8930]

(2) what measures she will be taking to evaluate the impact of the nursery voucher scheme on participation and educational attainment of children with special educational needs; [8928]

(3) what measures she will be taking to evaluate the impact of the nursery voucher scheme on the educational attainment of the children involved; [8931]

(4) what measures she will be taking to evaluate the impact of the nursery voucher scheme on participation and educational attainment of children from ethnic minority groups. [8929]

Mr. Squire: The effectiveness of voucher issue and redemption will be assessed using information provided by the voucher contractor. The standards of provision will become known as the inspection regime yields inspection reports. The longer-term impact of the scheme cannot be assessed until data are available on children's later educational achievements.

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimates she has made of the number of Ofsted registered nursery education inspectors necessary to carry out inspections of voucher-redeeming institutions in (a) phase 1 and (b) phase 2 of the voucher scheme. [8936]

Mr. Squire: Initial planning estimates indicate that for the first and second phases of the scheme, some 200 and 4,000 registered nursery education inspectors respectively will be required. The precise number will depend mainly upon the number of providers who take part in the scheme.

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what information she intends to request of (a) the pilot local authorities, (b) pre-school providers, (c) Capita Managed Services Ltd. and (d) parents of four-year-olds in order to evaluate the operation of the nursery voucher scheme in phase 1. [8932]

Mr. Squire: Capita Managed Services Ltd. will provide information for the phase 1 areas on the number of institutions which have joined the scheme, as well as the issue and redemption of vouchers. The local authorities and participating institutions will be able to comment on the administrative arrangements. Any views made known by parents will also be carefully considered.

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimates she has made of the number of inspections by Ofsted of voucher-redeeming

15 Jan 1996 : Column: 470

institutions that will be required in (a) phase 1 and (b) phase 2 of the voucher scheme. [8937]

Mr. Squire: Setting aside maintained schools which are already subject to regular inspections by Ofsted, initial planning estimates indicate that for the first and second phases of the scheme some 600 and 12,000 inspections of voucher redeeming establishments will be required. The precise number will depend upon the number of providers who take part in the scheme.

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if parents will be able to redeem their vouchers for nursery provision during school holidays. [8933]

Mr. Squire: The voucher will cover a minimum of 36 weeks spread over three terms. In maintained schools it will cover the full school term. In the private and voluntary sectors it will be open to providers to offer more provision.

Nursery Voucher Scheme

Ms Estelle Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many nursery providers in the nursery voucher pilot scheme areas have been sent application forms; and how many providers have applied to participate in the scheme. [8727]

Mr. Robin Squire: All local education authority-maintained schools in the phase 1 areas have been invited to apply either directly or through their LEA. All grant-maintained and independent schools, and institutions registered under the Children Act 1989 in these areas, have been sent application forms. The voucher contractor has so far received over 500 applications to join the scheme.

Ms Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many nursery voucher application forms have been sent out to parents in the nursery voucher pilot scheme areas. [8726]

Mr. Squire: Some 11,800 application forms were sent out in the first mailing.

Ms Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what guidance she will give to nursery providers who wish to apply for loans for capital works on the strength of expected voucher income; and what expressions of interest have been made by financial institutions with regard to providing capital funding to nursery providers. [8730]

Mr. Squire: Providers in the private and voluntary sectors will be able to apply for commercial loans on the strength of voucher income. Subject to parliamentary approval, grant-maintained schools will be given the power to borrow. They and other maintained schools will be able to take advantage of the freedoms provided by the private finance initiative to enter into partnerships with the private sector. The Department does not retain information about financial institutions which wish to provide capital funding to nursery providers.

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