The neighbourhood nurseries initiative was launched in 2001. It had a target of creating 45,000 new child care and early education places for children aged 0 to five in the 20 per cent. most disadvantaged areas in England. 900 nurseries opened in 2004 and a further 33 opened in 2005. The full target of 45,000 places in 1,279 neighbourhood nurseries was achieved by August 2004. By the end of 2005, over 49,000 places across 1,380 neighbourhood nursery projects had been delivered.
Based on information received from local authorities, 300 of the 1,066 designated children's centres are based on or are linked to neighbourhood nursery programmes. And we are encouraging local authorities to give neighbourhood nurseries the opportunity to help deliver children's centre services where this makes sense on the ground.