To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) if he will take steps to ensure that the children’s family centres in the most deprived areas in Kent receive proportionally more funding from 2008 onwards; (119874)

Our guidance for local authorities on planning and delivering Sure Start Children’s Centres makes it clear that the most intensive support should be available for the most disadvantaged families. For the period 2006-08 we allocated funding to local authorities based on numbers of children under five and levels of deprivation. Local authorities have responsibility for allocating that funding to children’s centres in their area; securing value for money; and ensuring the overall quality of services in children’s centres. We have appointed the “Together for Children” consortium who will support and challenge local authorities to plan a suitable range of services at each centre. The Government are undertaking a comprehensive spending review and decisions on funding for Sure Start Children’s Centres beyond March 2008 will be taken in that context.