To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many available places there are in Sure Start schemes in (a) Lewisham, Deptford constituency and (b) Lewisham borough; (79165)

Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) were set up between 1999 and 2003 offering a range of services to children under four years of age and their families living in defined areas. All SSLPs are becoming Sure Start Children’s Centres and will offer services to children under five years of age and their families. Information about the percentage of children reached by SSLP services is now collected once a year. Data on how many children have accessed services through children’s centres are not available yet.

2,325 children under four live in areas covered by three SSLPs in the Lewisham Deptford constituency. In all 3,427 children under four live in areas covered by five SSLPs in the borough of Lewisham. The latest information available (at March 2005) shows on average 37 per cent.¹ of children in the Lewisham Deptford SSLPs and on average 36 per cent.¹ of children overall in SSLP areas in the borough of Lewisham had significant contact (that is, a home visit or attendance at a centre-based activity) with Sure Start.

There is one Sure Start Children’s Centre up and running in the constituency of Lewisham Deptford, building on an existing SSLP and offering services to 1,545 children under five and their families, and three overall in the borough of Lewisham offering services to 4,650² children under five and their families.

¹ Source—Sure Start Local Programme data returns March 2005.

² 4,650 children includes 1,483 children previously served by the two SSLPs across Lewisham that have become children’s centres.