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MPs have called for council funding for children's centres to be ring-fenced, to protect them from public sector cuts. In a wide-ranging defence of the £1.7bn Sure Start programme, members of the the Commons' children, schools and families committee warned reducing support for the centres would jeapodise long-term gains. Just days after peers in the House of Lords delayed the Personal Care Bill to avoid added costs, the cross-party group warned Whitehall departments not to saddle councils with another cost. MPs said: ‘Local authorities are now responsible in law for providing sufficient children's centres for their community, and we would not wish authorities to be bequeathed an underfunded statutory duty.' Sure Start children's centres offer advice and a range of services to families with children aged up to five, including advice and benefits, to improve outcomes. The centres have proved controversial, since some commentators have argued it is still too early to have solid evidence of their benefits. Conservative leader, David Cameron, has raised the possibility of reducing the number of Sure Start centres so they focus purely on children living in deprived areas. But MPs on the committee issued a staunch defence of the programme and its an achievements. They said: ‘The Sure Start programme as a whole is one of the most innovative and ambitious government initiatives of the past two decades. ‘We have heard almost no negative comment about its intentions and principles. It has been solidly based on evidence that the early years are when the greatest difference can be made to a child's life chances and, in many areas, it has successfully cut through the silos that so often bedevil public service delivery. ‘Children's centres are a substantial investment with a sound rationale, and it is vital that this investment is allowed to bear fruit over the long term.'

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WHITEHALL

Ring-fence child centres to avoid cuts, says committee

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