Chamber and committees

The main aspects of the proposal had already been publicised by Falkirk Council. Falkirk Council proposed a novel and untried delivery vehicle in its schools public private partnership bid. To assist in assessing its viability, discussions were held on the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed delivery model with Partnerships UK and other experts. The Outline Business Case itself was not used in these consultations.

We received from Falkirk Council, on 24 December 2002, an Outline Business Case for a public private partnership described as a not-for-profit trust approach to work on school buildings. The proposal does not involve the establishment of a trust.

I have asked Mr George MacKenzie, Keeper of the Records of Scotland, to respond. His response is as follows:In its publicity material, the National Archives of Scotland (NAS) advises readers travelling from a distance to enquire in advance of their arrival as to the availability of particular records. Where a record requested is undergoing conservation treatment, NAS makes every effort either to accelerate the work or to provide a satisfactory copy in its stead.The Executive cannot respond in relation to local, private or other archives which are outwith its responsibility.

Information on the costs of full-time pre-school education and child care is not collected centrally.

Each eligible child is entitled to up to 412.5 hours of free pre-school education per year. The following restrictions have been imposed on the provision of pre-school education in the interests of the child:no child should have more than three continuous hours of pre-school education without a clear rest period;education provision should not exceed five hours in any one day, andthere should not be any more than five sessions of 2.5 hours of education in any one week.Many centres, of course, provide care to complement this education provision.The number of children undertaking pre-school education is shown in Table 1 of the 2002 Pre-school and Daycare Census, a copy of which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 24310). A total of 123,007 children were taking up their full entitlement to 412.5 hours of funded pre-school education in 2002.

Prior to 2002-03, the Scottish Executive administered funding for pre-school education. It was made up of three elements, grant per place, rural and development. Grant per place was claimed by local authorities on the basis of the number of sessions undertaken by children. The rural element was allocated to 12 authorities in recognition of the difficulties and increased costs associated with operating in a rural setting. The development funding was allocated to expand the provision available for three-year-olds to meet the target of full participation. Funding for the provision of pre-school education for all three-year-olds came on stream from 1999-2000.The pre-school education grant issued to local authorities to administer since 1998-99 are shown in the following table.

Year	Distributed Per Capita (£ million)	Rural Element(£ million)	Development(£ million)	Total(£ million)
1998-99	42.7	3.9	5.5	52.1
1999-2000	85.6	5.8	20.8	112.3
2000-01	105.3	6	18	129.3
2001-02	118.2	6.3	11.6	136

Resources amounting to £137 million were transferred to the local government settlement from 2002-03. No maximum figure has been set for the provision of a pre-school education. However, an annual minimum payment per child has been set for 2002-03 and 2003-04 of £963 and £987 respectively.

Local authorities have a duty to secure pre-school education amounting to a minimum of 412.5 hours over the school year. Parents are free to ask for fewer hours but that does not relieve the authority from their duty to secure appropriate pre-school education provision.

Information received from local authorities indicates that none are implementing a waiting list for pre-school education.

The information requested is not held centrally.