Borough 'Lags Behind' in Nursery Education says MP

3.23.52pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 5th Apr 2004

MP Vincent Cable has written to the Chief Education Officer and the Minister for Education about the apparent failure of the borough to meet the governments declared 'guarantee' of three terms of free nursery education for all three year olds.

He has also joined the campaign of local parents to save the Wings Nursery in the ETNA centre, which is faced with closure if the council presses ahead with plans to evict the organisations occupying the ETNA Centre so that the property in Rosslyn Road, East Twickenham, can be used for development.

Vincent Cable said: "There is a growing amount of evidence that early years education is a key factor in success in education, and very helpful to children's social development. That is why the government has 'guaranteed' three terms of free nursery places for three year olds. But as far as I can establish from the borough's children's information service, this guarantee is not available locally (only for four year olds) and the money from the government has gone into other things".