Sure Start committee chair outlines children's centres vision

Andrea Leadsom, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Sure Start, said children’s centres should be a “core part of the public sector infrastructure” in local communities, and given statutory status like schools.

Leadsom has previously raised concerns that some children’s centres offer too broad a range of services and believes they should refocus on supporting soon-to-be parents and those with the youngest children that are struggling the most with parenting responsibilities.

Speaking exclusively to CYP Now, she said: “Sure Start funding is not ringfenced. It is fundamentally vulnerable to the vagaries of funding and performance.

“But if it had statutory footing to create family resilience and give every baby the best start in life then local authorities would have to [provide] a children’s centre for X number of families. There would still be cuts but if we were to follow my proposals you could be potentially funding new interventions.”

Alongside redefining the purpose of children’s centres, they should be given funding to develop more intensive support packages with money taken from later interventions, such as adoption and fostering, youth justice and mental health services, she said.

Leadsom explained: “One or two per cent per annum should be taken from every late intervention to invest in the earliest years in prevention.”

She hopes that such an approach could be piloted by the Department of Health, which Leadsom believes should be handed responsibility and funding for the conception to age two years period from the Department for Education.