Children’s Centres

Barry Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has to take forward proposals for legislation affecting Sure Start Children's Centres following the recent public consultation exercise; and when he expects the findings of the consultation to be published.

Beverley Hughes
Yes, we plan to legislate for Sure Start Children's Centres as part of the forthcoming Children, Skills and Learning Bill. The public consultation exercise ‘Legislating for Sure Start Children's Centres’ closed on 6 November and we received over 300 replies. An overwhelming 97 per cent. of respondents agreed with our proposal to give Sure Start Children's Centres a firm legislative basis. We will publish the consultation report on the Department's consultation website:

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/consultations/

by the end of December.