Incorporating HC 799-i and ii, session 2008-09

The Government launched the Sure Start programme in 1998 to help give the best start in life for every child, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds, by bringing together early education, childcare, health and family support services. From April 2006, local authorities have been responsible for managing the programme for their area and decide whether to do so directly or to contract out management to a private or voluntary provider, whilst the DfES issues guidance to local authorities and monitors performance. The first 800 centres were located in the most deprived areas, but the Government has pledged to create a children's centre for every community by 2010, around 3,500 in all, committing £3.2 billion of funds until 2008. Children's centres also have income from various other sources including grants and fees for childcare charged to parents. This NAO report focuses on the capacity of the centres set up by September 2005 and the performance of responsible local authorities in delivering value for money through sound financial management, in reaching the most disadvantaged families, and in monitoring their performance effectively. It finds that good progress is being made although the full effectiveness of the centres will be measurable only in the long term. The centres are valued by most of the families who use them, although the early signs are that more still needs to be done to reach and support some of the most excluded groups. The costs of centres and activities vary widely, and local authorities and centres that the NAO visited need to understand their costs better and assess whether they were using their funds cost-effectively.

Incorporating HC 852-i and ii, Session 2012-13. Additional written evidence is contained in Volume 3, available on the Committee website at www.parliament.uk/educom. Incorrect paper number 346-II printed on document

The Government needs to prove that it is serious about closing the attainment gap for disadvantaged children by setting out coherent, long-term thinking on early years and children's centres. Ministers should start by making clear the Government's strategy for realising its aspiration to put in place a highly qualified workforce with equal pay and status between early years teachers and those in primary schools. The Government also needs to be clear what children's centres should be offering and who they are for. The Committee identified three different types of centres but this is not reflected in current policy. They also found that the stated core purpose is far too vague and broad. The core purpose needs to focus on achievable outcomes and reflect the difference between centres, especially where they do not offer early education or childcare. Stronger accountability is needed for how well individual children's centres perform and, critically, for how effectively local authorities use children centres to improve outcomes for children in their areas. Closing children's centres should go ahead only after proper consultation and where alternative options have been considered. While some changes may make the network as a whole more effective, it should be up to local authorities to decide how best to organise and commission services. Funding pressures mean some targeting of services is inevitable but all families should be able to access the services they need and that universal services of some sort play a significant part in encouraging families to engage in the first place

Integrated Children’s Centres looks at the way in which the Children’s Centre development has built upon research and experience of initiatives such as the HeadStart programme in America and the SureStart programme.

In 1997, the Labour Government came to power in the UK and committed to reforming public service delivery, particularly towards the improvement of children’s services. This book analyses Labour Party’s subsequent strategy towards public service delivery emphasising, on one level, devolving more power to frontline deliverers, while on the other, strengthening central control through a variety of means, leading to a ‘mixed-approach’ in its overall reforms. The book focuses on the implementation process involved in rolling out its Sure Start policy in order to understand and analyse the dynamics in Labour’s approach to delivery. In so-doing, it draws on implementation and policy network theories to offer an original analytical framework - ‘the implementation network approach’ - to explain the implementation process of Sure Start policy. This book will be undoubtedly appealing to the students and scholars engaged in the fields of Public Policy and British Politics.

It is widely acknowledged that family factors have a decisive impact on children’s opportunities in life. Following its landslide victory in 1997, New Labour initiated Sure Start, a cross-departmental programme intended to combat child poverty and social inequality by providing comprehensive family-centred services to children in pre-school age and their families. First evidence, however, points to significant difficulties in reaching minority ethnic families. This paper seeks to explore conditions for engaging effectively with minority ethnic families in Sure Start Children’s Centres. Effective engagement is defined as provision which is accessible to as well as inclusive of users and has positive outcomes measured against policy, practitioner and user objectives. Given the significant diversity of ethnic groups and limitations of previous research, existing evidence on ethnicity and Early Years provision is complemented by findings of a case study on the experience of Somali parents in a South London Community. It will be argued that Children’s Centres’ potential for effective engagement can be enhanced through a) considering individual/ethno-specific factors as well as regulatory and physical contexts in service design; b) well-trained staff and adequate resourcing; and c) actively involving parents in service planning, delivery and evaluation. It will also be suggested that the ability to offer inclusive services is constrained by systemic tensions arising from the rapid expansion of service provision and the underlying target and performance management model.