July marks four years since then childcare minister Sam Gyimah pledged to undertake a review into the future of children's centres.
The move suggested the government wanted clarity on the role centres should play in its wider early years policies, and came at a time when the rate of centre closures was starting to accelerate as council budgets tightened - 99 in the first six months of 2015, compared to 150 in the previous four years.
Last year, children's minister Nadhim Zahawi admitted the review had been scrapped. The policy inertia has led to about 600 centres closing in that time, although the real figure is double that if you include deregistered centres, many of which only offer the odd play session.
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