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1121867

registered interest
date	18/04/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children's Centres
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of a reduction in the number of children’s centre places in local authorities on the number of children being taken into care in that area.
tabling member constituency	Ipswich
tabling member printed	Sandy Martin
uin	245996
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2019 answer text <p>​The information requested is not held centrally because no such assessment has been made. However, the National Audit Office’s recent report on children’s social care found no support for the hypothesis that a reduction in the number of children’s centre buildings would increase the use of child protection plans. The report can be accessed at: <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/report/pressures-on-childrens-social-care/" target="_blank">https://www.nao.org.uk/report/pressures-on-childrens-social-care/</a>.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 25/04/2019 16:23:10 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	4678 label Biography information for Sandy Martin

1121868

registered interest
date	18/04/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children's Centres
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussion he has had with representatives of local authorities on the educational value to children of children’s centres.
tabling member constituency	Ipswich
tabling member printed	Sandy Martin
uin	245997
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2019 answer text <p>My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education meets regularly with representatives of local authorities to discuss various matters related to the Department for Education agenda.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 25/04/2019 15:15:50 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	4678 label Biography information for Sandy Martin

1121869

registered interest
date	18/04/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children's Centres
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of Children’s Centre places provided in (a) 2018-19 and (b) 2019-20.
tabling member constituency	Ipswich
tabling member printed	Sandy Martin
uin	245998
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2019 answer text <p>Information on the number of funded entitlement childcare places provided in Sure Start Children’s Centres in 2018 is available in table 12 and 14 at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2018</a>.</p><p>Data for 2019 is not yet available.</p><p>Since 18 September 2017, data on Sure Start children’s centres has been supplied by local authorities via the department’s 'Get information about schools' database portal at: <a href="https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/</a>.</p><p>Based on information supplied by local authorities as at 31 March 2019, there were 2,353 main Children's Centres and a further 700 additional sites (giving a total of 3,053 children’s centre sites) open to families and children providing children's centre services as part of a network.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 25/04/2019 15:20:31 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	4678 label Biography information for Sandy Martin

1126802

registered interest
date	15/05/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children's Centres
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to (a) reverse the closure of children's centres and (b) publish a strategy for the long-term expansion of the provision of children's centres.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
uin	254727
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>As set out in the government response to recommendation 13 of the Education Select Committee report on tackling disadvantage in the early years, published on 4 April 2019, we are clear that children’s centres have an important role to play in achieving my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education’s social mobility ambition, but it is right for local authorities to decide how to use them as part of the wider system of local services. The government response can be accessed here: <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/Education/Correspondence/Government-response-to-committee-9th-report-tackling-disadvantage-in-the-early-years-CP-68.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/Education/Correspondence/Government-response-to-committee-9th-report-tackling-disadvantage-in-the-early-years-CP-68.pdf</a>, the select committee report can be accessed here: <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmeduc/1006/1006.pdf" target="_blank">https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmeduc/1006/1006.pdf</a>.</p><p>The government’s role is to engage with the sector, find out what works and support local areas to make the right decisions for their communities, which is why we have commissioned the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) to examine research and practice evidence with the aim of developing tools to help local authorities make informed choices about their children’s centre provision. The EIF project is part of the Department for Education’s £8.5 million local government programme, which will inform the next steps, including considering any future consultation, on children’s centres. Funding for the local government programme runs until March 2020, with evidence and learning emerging by its conclusion.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 22/05/2019 13:11:22 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1132492

registered interest
date	17/06/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children's Centres
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to establish a children’s centre outcomes framework.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
uin	265463
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>In 2013 the department published the children’s centre core purpose, which focussed on improving outcomes for children in greatest need of support. This can be found at the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sure-start-childrens-centres" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sure-start-childrens-centres</a>.</p><p>In July 2018 we set an ambitious goal to halve, by 2028, the percentage of children leaving reception year without the communication, language and literacy skills they need to thrive. We have been clear about the outcomes that we are looking to achieve in the early years and it is for local authorities to decide how best to deliver local services.</p><p>To help local areas monitor and improve these outcomes, we published on 6 June 2019 the Early Years Outcomes Dashboard: <a href="https://department-for-education.shinyapps.io/smapey-dashboard/" target="_blank">https://department-for-education.shinyapps.io/smapey-dashboard/</a>. This dashboard makes the most important early years social mobility metrics easily available and will allow local authorities to benchmark their outcomes against their statistical neighbours. This is in addition to the extensive range of data made available to local authorities by Public Health England through its Child and Maternal Health profiles: <a href="https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/child-health-profiles" target="_blank">https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/child-health-profiles</a>.</p><p>In line with this emphasis on outcomes, the department has no plans to require local authorities to submit data on children’s centre use. The decision to reduce burdens on local authorities and stop requiring them to submit usage data was set out in paragraphs 5.28 and 5.29 of the Sure Start children’s centre planning and performance management guidance in 2006: <a href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100210171222/http:/www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/_download/?id=4974" target="_blank">https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100210171222/http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/_download/?id=4974</a>.</p><p>The department believes this is still the right approach. Local authorities should be reviewing data on service use and outcomes in order to ensure that they are meeting the duty to have sufficient children’s centres to meet local need and their commissioning decisions are informed by evidence of the impact of their local services. We will continue to work with local authorities to achieve the Secretary of State’s social mobility ambition, including through our £8.5 million early years local government programme.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 265464 question first answered 20/06/2019 16:08:42 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1132494

registered interest
date	17/06/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children's Centres
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report entitled Closed Doors: children’s centre usage between 2014-15 and 2017-18, published in June 2019 by Action for Children, what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities submit data on children's centre use in the early years to enable children’s centre provision to meet local need.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
uin	265464
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>In 2013 the department published the children’s centre core purpose, which focussed on improving outcomes for children in greatest need of support. This can be found at the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sure-start-childrens-centres" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sure-start-childrens-centres</a>.</p><p>In July 2018 we set an ambitious goal to halve, by 2028, the percentage of children leaving reception year without the communication, language and literacy skills they need to thrive. We have been clear about the outcomes that we are looking to achieve in the early years and it is for local authorities to decide how best to deliver local services.</p><p>To help local areas monitor and improve these outcomes, we published on 6 June 2019 the Early Years Outcomes Dashboard: <a href="https://department-for-education.shinyapps.io/smapey-dashboard/" target="_blank">https://department-for-education.shinyapps.io/smapey-dashboard/</a>. This dashboard makes the most important early years social mobility metrics easily available and will allow local authorities to benchmark their outcomes against their statistical neighbours. This is in addition to the extensive range of data made available to local authorities by Public Health England through its Child and Maternal Health profiles: <a href="https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/child-health-profiles" target="_blank">https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/child-health-profiles</a>.</p><p>In line with this emphasis on outcomes, the department has no plans to require local authorities to submit data on children’s centre use. The decision to reduce burdens on local authorities and stop requiring them to submit usage data was set out in paragraphs 5.28 and 5.29 of the Sure Start children’s centre planning and performance management guidance in 2006: <a href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100210171222/http:/www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/_download/?id=4974" target="_blank">https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100210171222/http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/_download/?id=4974</a>.</p><p>The department believes this is still the right approach. Local authorities should be reviewing data on service use and outcomes in order to ensure that they are meeting the duty to have sufficient children’s centres to meet local need and their commissioning decisions are informed by evidence of the impact of their local services. We will continue to work with local authorities to achieve the Secretary of State’s social mobility ambition, including through our £8.5 million early years local government programme.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 265463 question first answered 20/06/2019 16:08:42 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1132597

registered interest
date	17/06/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children's Centres
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State of 5 June, 2019, Official Report, Column HL122. what the evidential basis for the statement that there are now more children’s centres than at any time prior to 2008.
tabling member constituency	Batley and Spen
tabling member printed	Tracy Brabin
uin	265619
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2019 answer text <p>Based on information supplied by local authorities, as at 31 May 2019, there were 2,353 children’s centre and 700 linked sites[1] open to families and children providing children's centre services as part of a network.</p><p>Sure Start children’s centres were rolled out in three phases between 2004 and 2010. A National Audit Office memorandum to the Children, Schools and Families Committee in 2009[2] published data on the number of children’s centres rolled out in phases 1 and 2 as set out in the table below.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Number of centres during each phase</p></td><td><p>Cumulative total</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Phase 1 2004-2006</p></td><td><p>1126</p></td><td><p>1126</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Phase 2 2006-2008</p></td><td><p>1781</p></td><td><p>2907</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>There are no published records of the number of children’s centres that had been opened by the end of the 2007 calendar year. The 2008 statistic is based on management information that the Department for Education holds on the pattern of children’s centre designations[3] during the roll out of Phase 2 children’s centres between 2006 and 2008. This data shows there were fewer than 2,300 children’s centres prior to 2008.</p><p>The Department for Education will publish the management information in an ad-hoc statistical release in due course.</p><p> </p><p>[1] Source: Get Information about Schools database <a href="https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/</a>.</p><p>[2] National Audit Office memorandum to Children’s Schools and Families Committee, 2009 <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/0910_sure_start_memorandum.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/0910_sure_start_memorandum.pdf</a></p><p> </p><p>[3] To count towards children’s centre targets, centres were officially ‘designated’, meaning that they were open and providing some services, with plans in place to deliver all the required services within two years.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 28/06/2019 11:24:01 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi previous answer version 124353 answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	4588 label Biography information for Tracy Brabin

1135581

registered interest
date	28/06/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children's Centres
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2019 to Question 260548 on Sure Start Programme, what recent assessment he has made of the implementation of local authorities' duty under the Childcare Act (2006) to ensure sufficient children's centres to meet the need of local families.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	270713
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2019 answer text <p>The government has not made any such assessment. It is the responsibility of local authorities to comply with their statutory duties, having regard to statutory guidance published by the Department for Education. The relevant statutory guidance can be found at <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/678913/childrens_centre_stat_guidance_april-2013.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/678913/childrens_centre_stat_guidance_april-2013.pdf</a>.</p><p>The government’s focus is on outcomes for children. In July 2018 the government set an ambitious goal to halve, by 2028, the percentage of children leaving reception year without the communication, language and literacy skills they need to thrive. This is a clear direction for all those who have a part to play, including children’s centres. The department is working with local authorities, including through our £8.5 million early years local government programme, to achieve this ambition.</p><p>To help local areas monitor and improve these outcomes, the department published on 6 June 2019 the Early Years Outcomes Dashboard, which can be found here: <a href="https://department-for-education.shinyapps.io/smapey-dashboard/" target="_blank">https://department-for-education.shinyapps.io/smapey-dashboard/</a>. This dashboard makes the most important early years social mobility metrics easily available and will allow local authorities to benchmark their outcomes against their statistical neighbours. This is in addition to the extensive range of data made available to local authorities by Public Health England through its Child and Maternal Health profiles, which can be found here: <a href="https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/child-health-profiles" target="_blank">https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/child-health-profiles</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 03/07/2019 15:01:48 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1142046

registered interest
date	25/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children's Centres
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to require local authorities to submit data to his Department on children’s centre usage levels.
tabling member constituency	Ashton-under-Lyne
tabling member printed	Angela Rayner
uin	282365
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/09/2019 answer text <p>I refer the hon. Member to the answers given by my hon. Friend, the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Nadhim Zahawi) on 20 June 2019 to Question <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2019-06-17/265464/" target="_blank">265464</a>.</p> answering member constituency Saffron Walden answering member printed Mrs Kemi Badenoch question first answered 04/09/2019 16:57:26 answering member 4597 label Biography information for Kemi Badenoch
tabling member	4356 label Biography information for Angela Rayner

1172626

registered interest
date	22/01/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children's Centres
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many designated Sure Start Children's Centres there were in each local authority in England in (a) 2010 and (b) 2019.
tabling member constituency	Ashton-under-Lyne
tabling member printed	Angela Rayner
uin	6707
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/01/2020 answer text <p>Since 18 September 2017, data on Sure Start children’s centres and children’s centre linked sites has been supplied by local authorities via the department’s Get Information about Schools (GIAS) database portal at: <a href="https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/</a>.</p><p>Based on the information supplied by local authorities[1], the attached spreadsheet provides details of the number of children’s centre sites by local authority in 2010 and 2019.</p><p>Councils are reconfiguring services to deliver them more efficiently. If a council decides to close a children’s centre, statutory guidance is clear that they should demonstrate that local children and families would not be adversely affected and that local areas would continue to have sufficient children’s centres to meet their needs.</p><p> </p><p>On 7 November 2019, the department published annual figures for the number of children’s centres from 2003 and June 2019. This data is available at the following link: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/844752/Number_of_Children_s_Centres_2003_to_2019_Nov2019.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/844752/Number_of_Children_s_Centres_2003_to_2019_Nov2019.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p><p>[1] The number of children’s centres is based on information supplied by local authorities as at 3 January 2020. These figures may be different to previous answers and could change again in future, since local authorities may update their data at any time.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Chippenham answering member printed Michelle Donelan question first answered 27/01/2020 17:43:45 answering member 4530 label Biography information for Michelle Donelan attachment 1 file name 6707_table_of_children_centre_numbers_in_2010_and_2019.xls title 6707_table
tabling member	4356 label Biography information for Angela Rayner