Strong Local Voice, Strong Local Champion

Sure Start Children's Centres

Publication of 38th Report of Session 2006-07

Annette Brooke MP, Member of the Committee of Public Accounts, today said:

"Sure Start centres have a vital role in helping some of our most disadvantaged families, but alarmingly few centres are actively reaching out to those families who need their support the most. Unless children's centres make more effort to reach those families most in need of help, then thousands of children will continue to be trapped in poverty. Parents must be actively encouraged to visit these centres so they can benefit from the advice of the qualified staff who work there. Because there is so much to be done to address the chronic deprivation that blights many of our communities, every pound spent must be properly focussed."

Annette Brooke MP was speaking as the Committee published its 38th Report of this Session which, on the basis of evidence from the Department for Education and Skills and the Department of Health, examined the progress of the Sure Start children's centre programme and whether it is on track to achieve its aims.

Sure Start children's centres are multi-purpose centres that bring together childcare, early education, health and family support services. They are designed for use by families, parents and carers of children under five and may be based in schools, health centres, community centres or in their own building. Public, private and voluntary organisations work together in children's centres to provide a wide range of services from childcare to health visiting, employment advice, parenting advice and toy libraries, for all young families, but with a particular emphasis on improving the life chances of the most disadvantaged children.

The Department for Education and Skills (the Department) spent £2.1 billion on Sure Start local programmes and children's centres and related programmes up to 2006. It funded some centres directly until March 2006, but from April 2006 local authorities took over planning and managing the children's centre programme in their areas, and the Department will be allocating £1.8 billion to local authorities for children's centres from 2006 to 2008. There were around 1,000 centres in September 2006, and local authorities are responsible for raising this to 3,500 centres by 2010.

Local authorities allocate funds to children's centres in their area and manage the children's centre programme, which involves establishing new centres, and either running existing centres directly or supervising their running by other public, private or voluntary providers. Managers of children's centres work with very different organisations (providing services in their centres as wide ranging as family support, public health, childcare and employment advice) which have widely differing working practices and need to work together in a way they have not done before. Some partnerships, for example to provide children's centre-based health services through Primary Care Trusts and employment advice through Jobcentre Plus, have been slow to develop. Staff at children's centres must also be aware of all the services not provided from their centre that could potentially benefit local families and be able to advise or refer them accordingly.

Local authorities reached the target for establishing the first phase of children's centres late, and setting up further centres by 2010 will stretch their capacity further. The Department has provided additional funds for training early years' professionals, but there is a risk that the 2,000 people undergoing training as Early Years Professionals and 800 as centre leaders will not be sufficient for the centres required in second and third phases of the programme.

Many centres need more support in financial management. There are considerable differences between the sums that different centres spend for each family using key services-for example averages of £7 to £20 for each family seen by healthcare staff-and a lack of understanding of what the unit costs of activities should be. There is limited evidence that spending is applied where it is most needed. The Department was slow to produce guidance on performance measurement and monitoring. Under Local Area Agreements, which can give more local freedom to move resources between services, it is important to have robust local systems to measure performance that should underpin assessments of cost-effectiveness.

While most of the early centres are in relatively disadvantaged areas, only one third of those visited by the National Audit Office were proactively seeking out the most disadvantaged families in their areas. Parents are generally happy with the services that are provided, but smaller ethnic minority communities, single fathers and children with special needs are less well served. Families with children with disabilities in particular need better information on what services are available for them, and advice on accessing services not provided from the children's centre.

ENDS