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8 Jan 2008 : Column 402W—continued

The fees data collected in this survey should be treated with caution as the figures have been derived from a number of variables. In addition a large number of providers who responded to the survey were unwilling or unable to provide details on the fees they charged.

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what definition of a child care place his Department uses. [176686]

Beverley Hughes: Child care in England is defined in legislation for the first time in Section 18 of the Childcare Act 2006. This defines child care as, "any form of care for a child" including "education ... and any other supervised activity" but excluding:

education or activities provided by a school for a pupil during school hours, unless that pupil has not yet started key stage 1 (thereby including nursery and reception classes);

care provided for a child by a parent, step-parent or person with parental responsibility; or any relative; or foster parent (local authority or private); or

care provided by a children's home, a care home, a hospital or a residential family centre, a young offenders’ institution, a secure training centre, or a secure care home within any of those establishments.

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many child care places were available in each year since 1997, broken down by region. [176687]

Beverley Hughes: The information is not available in the form requested.

Since 2003 Ofsted has been responsible for the registration and inspection of child care providers. The table shows the number of places registered with Ofsted each year.

8 Jan 2008 : Column 403W

8 Jan 2008 : Column 404W

Number( 1, 2) of registered child care places for children under eight years of age by type of care( 3) ,( ) Government office region in England: position as at 31 March each year 2003 to 2007
	2003				2004
	Childminders	Full day care	Sessional day care	Out of school day care	Childminders	Full day care	Sessional day care	Out of school day care
England	300,900	381,600	280,800	285,400	319,700	456,300	274,100	326,700
North East and Yorkshire	45,900	48,800	29,500	32,900	48,700	61,800	28,600	37,800
North East	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Yorkshire and the Humber	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
North West	37,300	57,200	31,300	46,400	39,800	69,300	30,000	56,300
East Midlands	26,100	34,500	26,100	22,600	28,300	40,800	25,700	24,200
West Midlands	31,200	45,000	25,400	37,700	32,200	52,100	22,900	42,700
East of England	34,700	35,400	41,300	25,800	37,500	43,500	42,000	31,400
London	36,600	54,300	28,900	40,900	40,700	62,100	28,900	47,200
Inner London	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Outer London	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
South East	57,900	68,000	60,400	52,100	61,500	80,800	60,500	57,600
South West	31,200	38,300	37,900	27,100	31,100	45,800	35,500	29,600

	2005				2006
	Childminders	Full day care	Sessional day care	Out of school day care	Childminders	Full day care	Sessional day care	Out of school day care
England	316,100	518,000	249,600	341,200	322,200	565,700	237,100	366,500
North East and Yorkshire	49,300	71,400	24,700	38,100	—	—	—	—
North East	—	—	—	—	17,400	24,200	6,100	14,300
Yorkshire and the Humber	—	—	—	—	33,200	53,700	17,100	27,600
North West	38,600	77,100	26,000	60,400	39,600	83,900	24,800	64,800
East Midlands	28,200	46,500	24,400	23,300	28,700	50,800	23,400	25,200
West Midlands	31,200	59,000	20,200	42,200	30,200	65,300	19,400	44,200
East of England	37,100	49,400	40,000	32,000	37,800	53,900	38,300	33,100
London	40,500	71,600	26,900	52,200	—	—	—	—
Inner London	—	—	—	—	12,000	35,400	6,000	25,700
Outer London	—	—	—	—	29,900	42,100	20,200	33,300
South East	60,800	91,300	55,800	61,300	62,300	99,400	52,300	65,500
South West	30,300	51,700	31,700	31,700	31 ,000	57,000	29,600	32,800

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8 Jan 2008 : Column 406W

	2007
	Childminders	Full day care	Sessional day care	Out of school day care
England	317,700	598,700	221,600	365,400
North East and Yorkshire	—	—	—	—
North East	17,300	27,100	5,700	15,100
Yorkshire and the Humber	32,100	57,900	15,500	28,300
North West	38,900	89,300	22,600	66,600
East Midlands	28,600	54,200	22,700	26,000
West Midlands	30,000	70,300	17,700	43,500
East of England	38,000	55,500	36,800	33,900
London	—	—	—	—
Inner London	12,200	37,300	5,600	25,900
Outer London	30,000	43,000	19,700	33,400
South East	60,200	103,300	48,700	61,400
South West	30,100	60,900	26,700	31,200
(1) Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 if under 100, and to the nearest 100 if over 100. (2) Data Source: Ofsted (3) Excludes the number of child care places in creche day care.

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