Children's centre census to track changes to Sure Start
Janaki Mahadevan
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
A census for children's centres has been launched by charity 4Children to monitor changes to services being offered under the Sure Start programme across England.
The children’s charity will survey children’s centres managers in March every year, using data collected over the next fortnight — before ringfenced funding is removed and reduced – as a baseline to judge changes to provision.
Children’s centre managers will be asked about the number and type of staff they employ; the number of childcare places they provide; the mix between universal and targeted services; and the extent of charges for services.
Anne Longfield, 4Children chief executive, said: "In recent weeks we have all been anxious about the scale of potential closures of children’s centres. With a growing number of local authorities committing to keeping centres open, our attention is now moving to ensuring we are able to monitor changes to service provision.
"This survey will be a vital tool in allowing us to track trends and report back a national view of how services are changing. The survey will take less than 10 minutes for centre managers to complete and we hope that as many as possible will do so."
