Children’s Centres Mr. Dismore To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many Sure Start children's centres there are in the London borough of Barnet; and if he will make a statement; (2) what Sure Start children's centres there are in Hendon constituency; when each opened; which centres are planned in Hendon constituency; when each is planned to open; and if he will make a statement. Beverley Hughes There are 14 designated Sure Start Children's Centres in the London borough of Barnet with a further eight centres planned to be delivered by 2010, to provide universal access to children's centre services for children under five and their families. Seven children's centres are open in Hendon. Details are given in the following table. There are no additional children's centres planned for Hendon. ------------------------------------------------------------------- |Centre |Designation date| ------------------------------------------------------------------- |Parkfield Community School and Children's Centre|6 September 2006| ------------------------------------------------------------------- |Wingfield Children's Centre |14 March 2006 | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |Barnfield Children's Centre |8 February 2008 | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |Bell Lane Children's Centre |8 February 2008 | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |Hyde Children's Centre |11 February 2008| ------------------------------------------------------------------- |Stonegrove Children's Centre |6 March 2008 | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |The Kennedy Leigh Children and Family Centre |11 February 2009| ------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. Dismore To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) children and (b) families are receiving services at each Sure Start children’s centre in Hendon constituency; how many have received services at each centre since its inception; what estimate he has made of the number of children and families which will receive services at each planned centre; and if he will make a statement. Beverley Hughes The Department does not collect information centrally about the numbers of people accessing individual Sure Start Children's Centres. We expect local authorities and children’s centres to collect data on the take up of services as part of their local performance management arrangements. Sure Start Children’s Centres provide universal services for families with children under the age of five years. By 2010 there will be at least 3,500 Sure Start Children’s centres—one for every community. Mr. Dismore To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the capital start-up cost of each Sure Start children's centre in Hendon constituency was; what the revenue costs of each have been in each year since it opened; what the current annual revenue cost of each is; how much (a) his Department, (b) the NHS and (c) local authorities contributed to the (i) capital start up costs and (ii) annual revenue costs of each; what estimate he has made of the (A) capital start up costs and (B) annual revenue costs of each planned centre in Hendon constituency; and if he will make a statement. Beverley Hughes The Department allocates funding to local authorities for the capital start up and revenue costs of Sure Start Children's Centres through the Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare Grant. It is for local authorities to determine how to allocate the funding between individual centres and the Department does not collect information on how much is allocated and spent at centre level. Information on Barnet's capital and revenue allocations for 2008-11 is given in the following table. The Department does not collect information on NHS or local authorities' contributions to the programme. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |2008-09 |2009-10 |2010-11 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Children's Centre Revenue |3,651,335|4,912,063|5,983,537| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare Capital Allocation1 |2,342,190|3,199,744|2,520,657| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1 Includes capital funding streams for children's centres and early years and childcare quality and access. Local authorities have flexibility to decide how much to spend on each element.| | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. Dismore To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the performance against objectives of each Sure Start centre in Hendon constituency; and if he will make a statement. Beverley Hughes Local authorities, working with their partners within Children’s Trusts arrangements, are responsible for the overall delivery of the Sure Start Children’s Centres programme in England. They are responsible for monitoring and managing the performance of individual children’s centres in their area. The Department provides a performance measurement framework, including a self evaluation form, for centres and local authorities to use to monitor performance but performance of centres is not assessed centrally. Together for Children, the consortium the Department has under contract to support local authorities during the national roll-out of centres, is also providing additional guidance to local authorities on the performance management of their Sure Start Children’s Centres.