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11.30 am
Mr. Phil Willis (Harrogate and Knaresborough): I thank the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Lidington) for using this Adjournment debate to highlight the issue of the future of nursery education--or, as Liberal Democrats would prefer to call it, early-years education--and I apologise for wrongly addressing him before. I think that he would probably agree that it is one of the biggest issues facing the early part of this Parliament, and it is one on which the whole House could unite, provided that we get the right policies.
It is rewarding, if perhaps ironic, that, after 18 years of constant state education system reforms, the previous Government did not realise, until it was too late, the importance of early-years education. There was somehow a disbelief that, while examination performance was improving year by year, standards in numeracy and in literacy were falling and that a significant number of children were becoming alienated from the education system and indeed from society.
The previous Government did not seem to understand why that was so. The realisation that our education system needed not simply reform from the top downwards, but to be rebuilt from the bottom upwards, beginning with early-years education, sadly came too late. As a result, we have probably lost about 15 years of potential progress. Not only have many young people been disadvantaged, but the whole country is having to pay a price for that failure.
To be fair, 18 years ago, there was considerable scepticism about the value of early-years education or nursery education, but today there is almost universal acceptance of its value. The High/Scope research project by Schwinhart and Weikart in the United States of America demonstrated the significant cost benefits of early-years education. It meant less criminal damage and fewer court fees to pay, the payment of more taxes by better-educated citizens and the need for less remedial schooling, not to mention the enormous personal benefits in terms of the quality of life of the individuals concerned.
The dramatic conclusions of the evaluation of the 1992 key stage 1 national curriculum assessment project--the National Union of Teachers project--clearly demonstrate again the advantages, particularly to children from lower socio-economic groups, of having received good nursery or early-years education. Even the former Prime Minister was convinced that early-years education was important. At the Tory conference in 1994, he said:
The system was universally condemned when it was announced. The then shadow Secretary of State called it "absolute nonsense" and a "convoluted administrative nightmare". The Liberal Democrat education spokesman, my hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Mr. Foster), called it "a total con trick" and even the then Chairman of the Select Committee on Education, the former hon. Member for Crosby, Sir Malcolm Thornton, cast doubts, calling on the then Secretary of State to abandon the whole idea if the pilot scheme did not work.
The pilot scheme was a qualified failure, but, conveniently, it was expanded in time for the general election, with vouchers appearing on the electorate's doorsteps. The fact that the hon. Member for Aylesbury needed reminding of his Government's policy on the nursery voucher scheme is evidence that even he was slightly embarrassed by the whole process.
The scheme guaranteed not a nursery place to every child, but only the provision of a voucher to part-fund a place, should a place be available. For children in areas where there was little or no provision or where top-up fees were not available from parents, and for children in large rural areas such as the one that I represent, where children are sparsely located and where there was little existing provision, the voucher scheme delivered little. It remains what the present Secretary of State called it at the time--a bureaucratic nightmare--and it has caused tremendous stress to primary and infant schools, which have had to compete for voucher money to help to offset the costs of enlarged reception classes. In particular, it has disadvantaged schools that simply do not have room to provide for additional four-year-olds and that, inevitably, have lost children to other schools, so forcing unnecessary budget cuts and staff reductions.
Given the failure of the present scheme, the Government's commitment to replace it with an improved model and the overwhelming evidence that early-years education is a "price worth paying" to improve the quality of our education system, the whole House was entitled to expect a more considered response from the Government than the Secretary of State's letter to local education authorities on 22 May. Despite all the rhetoric and all the criticisms of the previous voucher scheme, what we have, in effect, is a new scheme that offers places to the same group of children, for the same number and length of sessions, and with the same budget--the same budget is exactly what the Secretary of State promised in his press release.
So what has changed? First, the paper transaction of the voucher has disappeared, and thank goodness for that. Secondly, there is now an expectation that a place will be provided for all four-year-olds and that is an important difference in the Government's proposals; there is not merely an entitlement to a voucher that people may or may not be able to spend, depending on where they live. Thirdly, I welcome the fact that provision will be organised through local education authorities. It was interesting to hear hon. Members talk about unfair treatment by LEAs of private institutions, when we remember how grossly unfairly LEAs have been treated in the past 18 years.
I do not want to be entirely negative about the Government's proposals. There is merit in the proposal to seek comprehensive development plans from LEAs for early-years education. Such a move would establish the principle of early-years education within the overall framework of state education. That is to be warmly welcomed. The Liberal Democrats will also actively support the Government's drive to ensure that all places are of good quality. We shall continue to support an active partnership between the maintained, the private and the voluntary sectors. Indeed, I compliment the previous Government on achieving that with their nursery voucher scheme, and it is pleasing that the Minister is prepared to take on board that partnership, to work and to improve on it.
Despite severe budget restraints and its large rural nature, my local education authority, North Yorkshire--a hung council in which the Conservatives have minority control--has unanimously supported a bid to submit an interim early-years development plan. However, it has real concerns, some of which I shall outline.
The first criterion outlined by the Secretary of State in his letter to LEAs is that he expects them to make 100 per cent. provision by 1999. We support that vision, but in reality few LEAs will be able to meet that target. Two weeks ago, one of the Minister's colleagues said on television that he expected places to be available for all four-year-olds in 1998, but that is simply not possible.
Where would LEAs find the accommodation for four-year-olds in the spring term of 1998? The children could be accommodated in nursery or pre-school classes, but North Yorkshire currently has provision for only 35 per cent. of the cohort. The LEA cannot rely on the private or voluntary sector, because its provision is patchy, due to the county's rural nature, and it cannot take up the slack. Moreover, the £366 per child per term fails to recognise the true cost of quality provision, and certainly does not leave scope to fund any capital or premises expansion, and it is doubtful whether that would be available for 1998 or even 1999.
The second issue is quality. I have referred to the tightness of funding to support expanded provision, but what do the Government mean by "a quality place"? Does the Secretary of State believe, as the hon. Member for Aylesbury obviously does, that £1,100 a year is sufficient to provide a quality place? I reject the view that adults working with children in their early years do not have to be qualified, which is the suggestion that has just been made. The most highly qualified and highly professional staff are needed to provide that quality education which is so essential to such children.
How does the Secretary of State intend local education authorities to monitor the quality of provision in order to create the registers? In addition to LEA nursery provision in North Yorkshire, there are 24 private nursery providers and 252 playgroups, all of which are currently registered. With no additional funding, how will it be possible to achieve what the Secretary of State so rightly wants--quality provision with quality monitoring throughout?
The third issue is, inevitably, funding. Even if we accept that £1,100 is sufficient for an early-years education place--the Liberal Democrats do not accept that--two specific problems arise. Currently, the Government do not have to pay for four-year-olds who do not take advantage of the voucher, but in future LEAs will have to provide those extra places because of the 100 per cent. criterion, and
they will have to guarantee that level of provision throughout the LEA. There will be a slight saving on the administration of vouchers but, as the hon. Member for Aylesbury pointed out, the new system will have an increased administrative burden anyhow, so whether there will be an overall saving is problematic.
Where will the extra money come from? In his press statement on 22 May, the Secretary of State made it clear that the £674 million available this year is all that will be available for next year. Yet, in a recent television interview, the Minister for Education and Employment said categorically that, by 1998, places would be available for all four-year-olds. Given the current position of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who has said that there is to be no increase in spending and no virement from other budgets, from where will the money come? If the Government are expecting LEAs to find new resources despite their current funding difficulties, the first education provision battle will be entirely over the flagship of a new nursery or early-years education programme.
Will funding be universal, as with the current voucher system, and will the same principle of a per capita deduction in the under-fives standard spending assessment system apply? The Minister will know that under-fives SSAs vary considerably between LEAs. North Yorkshire has one of the lowest in the country. Unless there is a significant change to the principle and mechanism of the under-fives SSA, or a change to the universality of the value of each place, North Yorkshire will be significantly disadvantaged in its drive to create what the Secretary of State so rightly wants.
The Liberal Democrats accept the need for a quality system of early-years education for all three and four-year-olds whose parents want their children to participate. We firmly believe that a quality early-years education programme needs to recognise the essential difference between early-years education and primary education, particularly the work done in reception classes. If we are to have only extended reception classes to take in all four-year-olds, the new system will be as flawed as the current system.
"There are many views about nursery education. But my views are clear. I am in favour of it".
To be fair, the nursery voucher scheme was probably this country's first attempt at a universal early-years education system. That needs to be recognised, yet,
despite the research findings, the scheme that is in place has done virtually nothing to meet the needs of the nation's three-year-olds and little to improve the service to our four-year-olds.
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