Sure Start children's centres : thirty-eighth report of session 2006-07, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence

The Government launched the Sure Start programme in 1998 to help give the best start in life for every child, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds, by bringing together early education, childcare, health and family support services.

From April 2006, local authorities have been responsible for managing the programme for their area and decide whether to do so directly or to contract out management to a private or voluntary provider, whilst the DfES issues guidance to local authorities and monitors performance.

The first 800 centres were located in the most deprived areas, but the Government has pledged to create a children's centre for every community by 2010, around 3,500 in all, committing GBP 3.2 billion of funds until 2008.Following on from a NAO report (HCP 104, session 2006-07; ISBN 9780102944136) published in December 2006, the Committee's report examines the progress of the children's centre programme and whether it is on track to achieve its aims.

Findings include that most children's centres are not doing enough to reach the most disadvantaged families, with only one third of the centres visited by the NAO having proactively sought out hard to reach families. Centres should adopt the kinds of strategies outlined in the NAO report to identify disadvantaged families and communities, develop effective outreach with community and voluntary organisations, and provide a welcoming environment in the centre and services to support their children's development that users will value and want to use.