The two authorities were chosen by the Department for Education andSkills to lead a group of pathfinder councils in extending free care forthree- and four-year-olds to 15 hours per week.
All three- and four-year-olds are currently entitled to 12 hours' freechildcare a week for 30 weeks a year. But the Government has said thiswill extend to 15 hours by 2010. Earlier this year it announced it wouldselect pathfinder councils to test ways to introduce the new hours andmake them more flexible.
Bids were invited from 40 councils to run the trials. Derbyshire CountyCouncil announced this month it had been chosen as a pathfinder and wasin line for 3.8m in extra funding.
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