Priority pledge on nurseries

LABOUR yesterday produced a swift reaction to adverse publicity over its nursery education plans, insisting that targets for provision would be set as soon as it took office, writes Patricia Wynn Davies.

A statement from the National Executive Committee that a 'dramatic' extension would be a Labour government's first priority follows the joint policy committee's rejection of a five-year timescale for creating nursery places for all three- and four- year-olds.

John Patten, Secretary of State for Education, had described the party's nursery education pledges as 'nothing more than a hollow and deceitful sham'. Yesterday's statement said: 'When elected we will set targets for the provision of nursery education for all three- and four-year-olds, where parents want it. . . We aim to make such progress consistent with the provision of quality teaching.'