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12 Mar 2007 : Column 28W—continued

For 2003-04 onwards, a more detailed breakdown is available as follows:

£ million
	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Current expenditure
Office refurbishment	0.6	0.6	1.7
Office maintenance	2.1	2.1	2.4
Other accommodation costs including security	21.6	23.0	20.6
Total	24.3	25.7	24.7
Capital expenditure
Office furniture	0.1	0.1	0.1

Cost trends can be influenced by major projects. For example, the increase in office refurbishment expenditure in 2005-06 reflects the initiation of the Press Gallery refurbishment.

Education and Skills

Children: Day Care

Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what percentage of child care (a) places and (b) providers (i) opened and (ii) closed in each of the last five years for which figures are available, broken down by (A) the private, voluntary and independent sector and (B) the state sector. [125622]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 6 March 2007]: The information requested about child care places and providers broken down by sector is not available.

The following tables provide information for all types of day care provider.

12 Mar 2007 : Column 29W

12 Mar 2007 : Column 30W

Table 1: Number and percentage of child care providers that have opened and closed 2004-06, England
	2003/04		2004/05		2005/06		March to December 2006
	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate
Opened	21,200	22.9	18,500	20.1	16,500	17.3	12,100	12.6
Childminders	16,300	22.5	13,100	18.7	12,000	16.8	8,800	12.3
Full day care	2,500	22.7	2,800	23.2	2,300	17.5	1,700	12.4
Out of school	2,400	26.0	2,600	26.8	2,300	21.9	1,700	15.8
Closed	14,400	15.5	19,200	20.9	13,000	13.7	11,300	11.8
Childminders	12,100	16.7	15,300	21.8	10,300	14.4	8,800	12.3
Full day care	1,100	10.0	1,800	14.9	1,300	9.9	1,100	8.0
Out of school	1,200	13.0	2,200	22.7	1,500	14.3	1,400	13.0
Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 if under 100, and to the nearest 100 if over 100. Source: Ofsted.

Table 2: Number and percentage of child care places opened and closed 2004-06, England
	2003/04		2004/05		2005/06		March to December 2006
	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate
Opened	238,600	21.6	254,100	21.6	214,800	17.1	157,400	12.2
Childminders	62,800	19.6	53,000	16.8	48,800	15.1	37,000	11.4
Full day care	98,600	21.6	117,600	22.7	90,900	16.1	68,400	11.5
Out of school	77,200	23.6	83,500	24.5	75,200	20.5	52,000	14.0
Closed	128,400	11.6	200,800	17.1	144,600	11.5	128,100	9.9
Childminders	50,400	15.8	63,000	19.9	44,800	13.9	37,900	11.7
Full day care	38,500	8.4	65,600	12.7	48,700	8.6	41,800	7.0
Out of school	39,500	12.1	72,200	21.2	51,100	13.9	48,500	13.1
Net steady state changes( 1)	+24,600	2.2	+19,200	1.6	+8,900	0.7	+7,700	0.6
Childminders	+6,400	2.0	+6,300	2.0	+2,100	0.7	+2,200	0.7
Full day care	+14,600	3.2	+9,600	1.9	+5,600	1.0	+4,300	0.7
Out of school	+3,600	1.1	+3,300	1.0	+1,200	0.3	+1,100	0.3
Net change	+134,900	12.2	+72,600	6.2	+79,100	6.3	+36,900	2.9
(1 )The net steady state refers to registered providers whose registration status has not changed, but whose number of places has fluctuated over the period in question. Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 if under 100, and to the nearest 100 if over 100. Source: Ofsted.

The Department is unable to provide accurate details of closure rates for child care places and providers prior to 2003.

Since March 2003 data on closure rates have been available from Ofsted. Their data on closures include registered places in settings which are transferring ownership, and in settings which move from one Ofsted category to another, not just in those which are ceasing trading.

Ofsted have produced figures on the numbers of registered child care providers and places on a quarterly basis from March 2003. Their latest figures were published in their report “Registered Childcare Providers and Places, December 2006”, which is available on their website, www.Ofsted.gov.uk/

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many childcare places for children under five were available in Warrington in each year since 1997. [125796]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 6 March 2007]: The available information on the number of registered child care places for children under eight in Warrington local authority area is shown in the tables. The latest figures on registered child care provider and places are available on the following website:

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