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Recalling the impact and value of Sure Start should be seen as a resource

1 min read Guest Blog
Halfway through reading ‘Risks of returning to Sure Start’ by Rob Wilson (CYP Now January 2024), the deputy chair of the Social Mobility Commission, I genuinely started to wonder if it was not written by a Conservative supporter/commentator who would have been complicit in the decimation of Sure Start since the advent of Conservative governments in 2010.
Ray Jones is emeritus professor of social work at Kingston University. Picture: Ray Jones
Ray Jones is emeritus professor of social work at Kingston University. Picture: Ray Jones

Blow me – at the end of the article it was noted that the author was a Conservative MP from 2005-2017 and a minister within the governments of Mr Cameron and Mrs May.

A little online searching identified that he had consistently voted in support of reducing the value of welfare payments and funding for local government policies which have seen child poverty increase, more families in difficulty, and help for families denuded.

So what about Mr Wilson’s statement that “if a future government decided to return to Sure Start as the blueprint for family and parenting programmes, it would be taking a risk”?

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