Decisions on how best to meet the needs of the local population have always been for the council concerned. Sure Start children\u2019s centres statutory guidance is clear that if a council decides to close a children\u2019s centre, they should demonstrate that local children and families will not be adversely affected and local areas continue to have sufficient children\u2019s centres to meet their needs.<\/p>
The proportion of children starting year 1 with a good level of development went from around one in two in 2013, to nearly three out of four children in 2019. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, a record proportion of children were starting Year 1 with a good level of development.<\/p>
The department is committed to ensuring children and young people get the best start in life. In the 2021 Budget, the government announced a £500 million package for families. This includes a £200 million uplift to the Supporting Families programme taking total planned investment across the next 3 years to £695 million. This funding will help up to 300,000 more families facing multiple, interconnected issues to access effective support and improve their life outcomes.<\/p>
£300 million of funding will be used to transform \u2018Start for Life\u2019 services and create a network of family hubs in half of council areas in England. This includes funding worth £81.75 million for a network of Family Hubs and £50 million for parenting programs. The department is committed to family hubs and will robustly evaluate the impact of the investment to gather best practice and inform future funding decisions.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4756", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Brendan Clarke-Smith"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Bassetlaw"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Brendan Clarke-Smith"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-07-14", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "32594"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-07-14T07:53:40.24Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2022-07-07", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Children's Centres"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 June 2022 to Question 23781 on Children's Centres, what estimate he has made of the number of children who have not had access to sure start services as a result of those closures.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4510", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Helen Hayes"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Dulwich and West Norwood"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Helen Hayes"} ], "uin" : "32595"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1472924", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1472924/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Data on Sure Start children\u2019s centres and children\u2019s centre linked sites has been supplied by local authorities via the department\u2019s Get Information about Schools database portal since 18 September 2017. This data is available at: https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/<\/a>.<\/p> <\/p> Based on the information supplied by local authorities, the attached table provides details of the number of children\u2019s centre sites by local authority in 2010 and 2021. Councils are reconfiguring services to deliver them more efficiently. If a council decides to close a children\u2019s centre, statutory guidance is clear that they should demonstrate that local children and families would not be adversely affected, and local areas continue to have sufficient children\u2019s centres to meet their needs.<\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4423", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Will Quince"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Colchester"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Will Quince"}
, "attachment" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1472924/answer/attachment/1", "fileName" : {"_value" : "23781_data.pdf"}
, "title" : "23781_table"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-06-28", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-06-28T16:17:22.497Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2022-06-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Children's Centres"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many designated Sure Start Children's Centres there were in each local authority in (a) 2010 and (b) 2021.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4510", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Helen Hayes"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Dulwich and West Norwood"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Helen Hayes"}
], "uin" : "23781"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1385825", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1385825/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " Based on the information supplied by local authorities, as of 8 December 2021[1] there were 2,301 children\u2019s centres and 699 children\u2019s centre linked sites[2] open to families and children providing children's centre services as part of a network.<\/p> The attached table shows the number of children\u2019s centres sites that have closed in Enfield North, London and England in each year since 2011[3].<\/p> The department does not routinely collect data on the services provided by children\u2019s centres. This data is held at a local level.<\/p>