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Row over child centre funding
Reporter: by Our Lobby Correspondent
Date online: 19 February 2009
THREE children’s centres in Oldham could be axed under spending cuts announced by the Tories, it has been claimed.
The Labour Party said a Tory commitment to slash £200m from the national Sure Start budget would be the equivalent of closing one in five children-s centres — meaning three would be at risk across the town.
Sure Start centres, which provide a place for parents to access a range of childcare, health and family advice, have proved popular with parents since the first facilities were set up a decade ago.
Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Phil Woolas said: “We fought long and hard for the Sure Start centres which have transformed the lives of many parents and more importantly their children. I know people think Westminster is all about yaboo politics but this is the real impact of policy changes.”
Labour claims that, nationally, if one in five centres closed, 569 of the 2,919 centres in England could face an uncertain future if the Tories win the next general election — which has to be held by May, 2010, at the latest.
Children’s Minister Beverley Hughes MP said: “Sure Start children’s centres make a massive difference to parents and under-fives up and down the country.
“By 2010 we will have a children’s centre in every community — 3,500 across the country — and each one of them will soon be linked to a named health visitor.
“But all that would be put at risk by the Conservative Party’s proposed cuts, which would mean closing one in five children’s centres across the country.”
A Tory Party spokesman rejected Labour’s claims.
The spokesman explained it wanted to divert £200m that the Government had earmarked for a new army of outreach workers — to persuade more families to take advantage of their local children’s centres — with 4,200 additional trained health visitors, who would be able to give practical help to parents in the days following their child’s birth.
He said the Tories had promised to match Labour’s overall spending allocation for the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
He added: “We have no plans to close any Sure Start centres. Their figures are not based on reality.”
Comments
woolas comes from the same mould as brown. he says one thing but means something completely different!
It seems 'Pull the Woolas over our eyes' is already running scared well before the next election. I wonder why?
He should worry about and hang his head in shame at the legacy he is leaving all the children exclusively educated under Labour. Their futures have never been more unsure.
But anything that might get in the way of obsessive social engineering gets my vote.
He's the little kid at parties who runs around shouting: "Look at me, look at me!"
Anything to seek attention.
Have Your Say
WOuldn't believe a word this man says, I think you'd not get a straight answer if you asked him which way round he wore his underpants.
Trouble is he probably doesn't know himself
By Flake @ 19/02/2009 12:53:51