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<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>
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