Primary Education: Nurseries

(asked on 23rd October 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2018 to Question 179290 on Primary Education: nurseries, what estimate he has made of the average cost to the public purse of including nursery provision in a new primary school.


Answered by
Nadhim Zahawi Portrait
Nadhim Zahawi
This question was answered on 29th October 2018

All free school applications are subject to a rigorous application process. Each application, including those with a nursery element, is assessed against published criteria. The assessment process includes consideration of the capacity and track record of proposers, financial viability and value for money.

The cost of a nursery in a free school is integrated into the total cost of the project. It is not possible to separate out the costs of the nursery alone, as they will generally share facilities and services with the school itself.

For the purposes of forecasting, we estimate that the average additional per pupil cost of including a nursery within a primary free school is around £12,000 excluding VAT. For actual projects, costs will depend on a variety of local circumstances including site specifications and pupil numbers.

Where local authorities (LAs) identify the need for a new school, they must seek proposals to establish a new free school. They are responsible for setting the specifications (including for a nursery) and assessing applications. LAs are responsible for meeting the associated capital costs, principally using basic need funding provided by the department.

LAs are also responsible for approving proposals for new voluntary-aided schools, including where proposals include nursery provision. LAs and proposers are responsible for meeting the associated capital costs, with the proposer expected to cover up to 10% of this amount.

Reticulating Splines