---

Dept for Education and Skills

Answer

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many Ofsted-inspected pre- school nurseries and playgroups have closed in each of the past three years. [21953] Margaret Hodge: The information is not available in the form requested. The Department collects information on day nurseries and playgroups and pre-schools defined in terms of the full day or sessional care that they provide. It does not collect information on pre-schools separately from playgroups. The available information is shown in the table. Number of day nurseries and playgroups and pre-schools in England{ 1} (position at 31 March each year) _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1998 1999 2000 2001 Playgroups and pre-schools 15,700 15,000 14,300 14,000 Day nurseries 6,700 7,000 7,500 7,800 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred. Local authorities provided the data. Ofsted did not assume responsibility for registration and inspection of children's day care facilities until September 2001. Figures for 2001 for England and Government Office regions were published in Statistical Bulletin 08/01 "Children's Day Care Facilities as at 31 March 2001", which is available at www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics/ and from the Library.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

377 c292-3W; 21953

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Closures Inspections Pre-school education Office for Standards in Education Nurseries Standards

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk