House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 24 Nov 2005 (pt 5)

24 Nov 2005 : Column 2177W—continued

Children's Trusts (Hemel Hempstead)

Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children's trusts there are in (a) Hemel Hempstead constituency and (b) Hertfordshire. [25809]

Beverley Hughes: Hertfordshire is integrating services for children and young people through children's trust arrangements that will cover the entire county. Therefore there is one children's trust that covers Hertfordshire. The local authority was chosen as a pathfinder children's trust authority and is testing provider arrangements in the Stevenage area in order to identify good practice that will influence wider implementation.

Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the operation of section 8 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970. [29847]

Maria Eagle: Section 8 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 refers to the design of, and access to, the buildings of educational institutions. Although this Act is still in force, Section 8 has since been superseded by other legislation including the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 (SENDA), The Education (School Premises) Regulations 1999 and the Building Regulations 2000. The provisions in these later Acts and Regulations are more comprehensive than those in Section 8 of the 1970 Act.

Schools now have a planning duty under Part 4 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to prepare accessibility plans for increasing over time the accessibility of schools for disabled pupils and prospective pupils. This planning duty covers: improving access to the curriculum, the physical environment of schools and provision of written materials in alternative formats, and will lead to access improvements that will have a positive impact on all aspects of school life.

The Learning and Skills Council monitor the extent to which further education college premises are accessible to disabled learners and, since SENDA was introduced in 2001, it has approved funding to enable colleges to undertake adaptations that will help them comply with the Act. So far over £160 million has been made available. All colleges have made, or are making, adaptations or have plans in hand. Higher education institutions are also subject to the legislation and regulations mentioned above (apart from the School Premises Regulations), but as autonomous organisations are responsible for ensuring that they comply.

Education (Tamworth)

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in Tamworth constituency attended nursery in each of the past 10 years; and how many have taken up free nursery places since the policy was introduced. [27490]

24 Nov 2005 : Column 2178W

Beverley Hughes: All four-year-olds have been entitled to a free early education place since 1998 and from April 2004 this entitlement was extended to all three-year-olds. The free entitlement consists of a minimum of five two and a half hour sessions per week for 33 weeks of the year for six terms before statutory school age, which is the term following their fifth birthday.

Some local authorities may additionally offer subsidised child care places but this information is not collected centrally.

Figures for January 2005 show that all four-year-old children receive some form of free entitlement. The figure for three-years-olds is 96 per cent. This covers all maintained, private, voluntary and independent providers and represents 535,100 three- year-olds and 568,300 four-year olds.

The available information on the number of free nursery education places taken up by three and four-year-olds in Tamworth parliamentary constituency area and Staffordshire local authority is shown in the tables.

For 2005, information for private and voluntary providers is available for Staffordshire but not currently available for Tamworth constituency.

The latest figures on early education places for three and four-year-olds in England were published in Statistical First Release 43/2005 Provision for children under five years of age in England—January 2005 (final)" in September, which is available on my Department's website www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/.
Number of free nursery education places⁽¹⁾taken up by three and four-year-oldsParliamentary constituency: TamworthPosition in January each year

Three-year-olds
Four-year-olds

Maintained nursery and primary schools⁽²⁾ Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers⁽³⁾ Maintained nursery and primary schools⁽⁴⁾ Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers⁽⁵⁾

2004 260 610 900 120

2005 310 n/a 900 n/a

n/a = Not available
1Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 or 100 as appropriate.
⁽¹⁾Headcount of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census.
⁽²⁾Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census.
⁽³⁾Headcount of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census.
⁽⁴⁾Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census.

24 Nov 2005 : Column 2179W

Number of free nursery education places⁽⁵⁾taken up by three and four-year-oldsLocal authority: StaffordshirePosition in January each year

Three-year-olds
Four-year-olds

Maintained nursery and primary schools⁽⁶⁾ Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers Total 3- year-olds Maintained nursery and primary schools⁽⁷⁾ Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers Total 4-year-olds

1997 3,500 ⁽⁸⁾— 3,500 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁹⁾9,600

1998 2,700 ⁽⁸⁾— 2,700 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁹⁾9,700

1999 2,700 ⁽⁸⁾— 2,700 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁹⁾9,500

2000 2,600 ⁽¹⁰⁾0 2,600 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁹⁾9,400

2001 2,600 ⁽¹⁰⁾440 3,000 ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁸⁾— ⁽⁹⁾9,200

2002 2,600 ⁽¹⁰⁾1,700 4,200 8,400 ⁽⁹⁾640 9,100

2003 2,300 ⁽¹⁰⁾3,500 5,800 8,500 ⁽¹¹⁾810 9,300

2004 2,200 ⁽¹²⁾4,500 6,700 7,900 ⁽¹³⁾860 8,800

2005 2,600 ⁽¹²⁾4,100 6,700 7,500 ⁽¹³⁾950 8,400

⁽⁵⁾Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 or 100 as appropriate.
⁽⁶⁾Headcount of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census.
⁽⁷⁾Headcount of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census.
⁽⁸⁾Not available.
⁽⁹⁾Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise.
⁽¹⁰⁾Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise.
⁽¹¹⁾Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census supplementary data collection exercise and the Annual Schools' Census.
⁽¹²⁾Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census.
⁽¹³⁾Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census.

	Three-year-olds	Four-year-olds
	Maintained nursery and primary schools⁽²⁾	Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers⁽³⁾	Maintained nursery and primary schools⁽⁴⁾	Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers⁽⁵⁾
2004	260	610	900	120
2005	310	n/a	900	n/a

	Three-year-olds	Four-year-olds
	Maintained nursery and primary schools⁽⁶⁾	Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers	Total 3- year-olds	Maintained nursery and primary schools⁽⁷⁾	Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers	Total 4-year-olds
1997	3,500	⁽⁸⁾—	3,500	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁹⁾9,600
1998	2,700	⁽⁸⁾—	2,700	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁹⁾9,700
1999	2,700	⁽⁸⁾—	2,700	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁹⁾9,500
2000	2,600	⁽¹⁰⁾0	2,600	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁹⁾9,400
2001	2,600	⁽¹⁰⁾440	3,000	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁸⁾—	⁽⁹⁾9,200
2002	2,600	⁽¹⁰⁾1,700	4,200	8,400	⁽⁹⁾640	9,100
2003	2,300	⁽¹⁰⁾3,500	5,800	8,500	⁽¹¹⁾810	9,300
2004	2,200	⁽¹²⁾4,500	6,700	7,900	⁽¹³⁾860	8,800
2005	2,600	⁽¹²⁾4,100	6,700	7,500	⁽¹³⁾950	8,400

Changes in pupil figures may arise from changes to the underlying population in the local authority area and other factors. However, my Department doesn't publish population figures for individual age cohorts at sub-national level because of the unreliability of the underlying population estimates. The Office for National Statistics publish sub-national population estimates in five-year age bands.

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