Margaret Hodge sent out a clear message to cash-strapped nursery schools last week that they would have to expand services in order to earn their keep. Speaking at a London conference on the future of maintained nursery schools, organised by Early Education, the employment and equal opportunities minister said that the Government had felt 'some concern' for the maintained nursery school sector over the past year and she was aware that many felt they were under threat, although she said statistics indicated that this was not really as great a problem as the nursery sector thought.