Innovation in early help needs cash and leadership

Recent weeks have seen government ministers placing the onus for ongoing cuts in early help services firmly at the door of local authorities. While youth minister Rob Wilson claimed during a House of Commons debate to be "very disappointed" with council cuts to youth services, childcare minister Sam Gyimah told MPs what authorities had closed children's centres over the past five years.

Cuts to children's centres and youth services have been a reality for some time. The reason appears straightforward: the 56 per cent reduction in the early intervention grant since 2010 has damaged councils' ability to invest in non-statutory services. The exact extent of centre closures is contested: Labour claims 800, while the figures announced by Gyimah puts the number at 250. The actual figure depends on your definition of what a children's centre is. As well as the 250 closed centres, there are 705 "additional" centres open that are providing something short of what a "core" centre offers. Shadow children's minister Sharon Hodgson claims these offer little more than "the odd parent and toddler group".