DfE commits to children's centres consultation
Neil Puffett
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
A consultation on the future of children's centres will still take place, despite news that the life chances strategy that it was due to be part of has been ditched, the Department for Education has said.
Last month it emerged that the life chances strategy, which had been due to feature a long-awaited consultation on children's centres originally due to launch in spring last year, has been dropped.
Instead, the government has said that elements of the strategy, which was believed to feature measures designed to address child poverty, including a plan to significantly expand parenting provision, will feature in a social justice green paper to be published this year.
The DfE has told CYP Now that the children's centres consultation is still going ahead, and is likely to launch in early 2017 as a departmental priority, separate of the social justice green paper.
A DfE spokeswoman said: "We are considering the future direction for children's centres and will provide further detail in due course.
"Giving children the best start in life and supporting working families with the costs of childcare will help to ensure this is a country that works for everyone, not just the privileged few.
"We are investing a record £6bn in childcare per year by 2020 and this includes extra support for disadvantaged families."
A consultation on the future of children's centres was first announced in July 2015 by then childcare minister Sam Gyimah, who also announced that routine inspections of the settings by Ofsted would be suspended until the findings were published.
Speaking at the time, Gyimah said the consultation would launch in autumn 2015, and would focus on making sure children's centres are set up to have the best impact on children's lives and maximise support to families.
However in January 2016 CYP Now revealed that the consultation had been delayed.
Then, in March 2016, the government announced that the consultation would form part of David Cameron's life chances strategy.
Last month it emerged that increasing numbers of children's centres are closing, with nearly twice as many shutting in 2015 than the previous year.
Figures released in parliament show that 156 Sure Start children's centres closed in 2015, compared with 85 in 2014 - an increase of 83.5 per cent.
