Sure Start Programme

Mr. Hoyle
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) whether he has plans to extend the operation of the Sure Start programme in (a) Chorley and (b) Lancashire;

(2) how much his Department has spent on the Sure Start programme in Chorley since the introduction of that programme.

Dawn Primarolo
Lancashire currently has 73 designated Sure Start Children's Centres offering access to services to approximately 48,800 children under five and their families. Of these centres, six are in the Chorley constituency, with a combined reach of approximately 4,000 children under five and their families. Lancashire is planning a further six centres to be delivered by 2010, with two of these in Chorley.

The Department allocates capital and revenue funding for children's centres and their predecessor Sure Start Local programmes to local authorities. It is for local authorities to decide how to allocate funding between individual centres. The following table contains details of the Sure Start Children's Centre expenditure (both revenue and capital) for Lancashire for the years since the inception of the Sure Start programme.

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|Capital and revenue allocations|Children's Centre expenditure/Lancashire|
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|2003-04                        |21,000                                  |
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|2004-05                        |100,000                                 |
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|2005-06                        |7,150,000                               |
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|2006-07                        |12,559,000                              |
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|2007-08                        |14,323,000                              |
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|2008-09                        |13,125,000                              |
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Mr. Hoyle
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his most recent assessment is of the outcomes of the Sure Start programme; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 10 November 2009, Official Report, column 354W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Wirral, South (Ben Chapman).