The government last month announced it is to hold a review in the autumn on the future role of Sure Start children's centres.
When it comes, the consultation will be set against a backdrop of a growing number of councils closing centres, a dramatic fall in government funding and huge variation in provision across areas (see graphic and in numbers).
Faced with a 56 per cent cut in early intervention grant funding since 2010, many local authorities have been forced to close centres or reorganise their network into a "hub and spoke" system, where some smaller centres provide fewer services, are only open shorter hours or are staffed by volunteers.
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