Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg claimed the previousgovernment had relied too heavily on "universal solutions" rather thantargeted support, in his speech about the government's ambition toimprove social mobility. His words came after Prime Minister DavidCameron had claimed children's centres were dominated by "sharp-elbowedmiddle-classes".
But Oxford University research fellow Naomi Eisenstadt, former directorof the government's Sure Start unit and the first chief adviser forchildren's services, told CYP Now that ministers would be wrong to scrapuniversal Sure Start services.
"Half of the poor kids live in areas that are not poor, so to reach themwe need universal services," she said. "I would want most of the moneyinvested in the poorest areas but a general level of service that isuniversal, like we do for schools. Nobody questions the need for(universal) school provision but we have never come to an agreement overprovision for under-fives."
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