DEPARTMENT FOR
CHILDREN, SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES News Release (2007/0199) issued by
The Government News Network on 7 November 2007
Free nursery
education for every three and four year old, backed by £340
million was announced today by Children's Minister, Beverley Hughes.
The cash will be used to extend the free early education
entitlement for all 3 and 4 year-olds, from 12.5 to 15 hours each
week. The extension will be rolled out across the country over the
next three years, and all local authorities will offer the
extended entitlement by 2010.
The funding emphasises the Government's commitment to
ensuring every child gets the best possible start in life and
helping thousands of families balance their work and home life
through the expansion of free, flexible childcare.
Children's Minister Beverley Hughes said:
"Free nursery education is essential to supporting high
quality early learning and care for children and to meet the needs
of today's parents for flexible childcare.
"We want to support families as much as possible and this
will help parents make difficult decisions such as returning to work.
"Children deserve the best start in life and nursery
education helps them in the long term by boosting their
communication, language and social skills. It is available to all
those who want it and I hope to see even more children benefiting
from the free hours. It also allows parents to sample childcare as
a route back to work and training."
Twenty local authorities already offer 15 hours of free nursery
education with £58 million invested from the Department for
Children, Schools and Families, and a further 14, Hackney, Lambeth
and Brent, Wolverhampton, Liverpool, Salford, Kirklees,
Middlesbrough, North East Lincolnshire, Luton, Durham,
Southampton, Nottingham City and Cornwall, will offer the extended
entitlement from September 2008.
The remaining local authorities will have funding to deliver the
15 hours to their most disadvantaged families, from September
2009. A year later, the rollout will be completed, with every
three and four year-old eligible to receive 15 hours free per week.
This funding is in addition to the more than £3bn already
provided each year for the free early education entitlement as
part of the Dedicated Schools Grant.
The Government also provides over £2m a day through the tax
credit system to help around 400,000 families with childcare
costs. The number of childcare places has doubled since 1997 to
1.3 million places.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The extension of the free entitlement and more flexible
delivery will be funded through a new investment of
£80m/£170m/£340m over 2008-11, which will be made available
through the Standards Fund.
2. We guaranteed an extension of the free early education
entitlement to 15 hours per week, 38 weeks a year by 2010 in the
Ten Year Childcare Strategy. The 20 LAs are already offering the
15 hours per week of extended entitlement are: Worcestershire,
Derbyshire, Leeds, Rochdale, Blackburn & Darwen, Sheffield,
Telford, Hampshire, Peterborough, Gloucestershire, Haringey,
Sunderland, York, Somerset, Greenwich, Hertfordshire,
Leicestershire, Newham, Slough, Blackpool.
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