Clegg sure child centres won’t close

DEPUTY Prime Minister Nick Clegg talks to St James’s Children’s Centre leader Nicola Dillon

NO Children’s Centres are being closed by Lib-Dem councils, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said as he defended cuts in Oldham.

The Lib-Dem leader visited St James’s Children’s Centre in Sholver on Friday to lend his support to the local party’s election campaign.

Labour has attacked the coalition Government for axing £2.1 million from Oldham’s budget for Sure Start Children’s Centres, saying it will result in at least 22 job losses.

The Early Intervention Grant that funds them has been cut by £1.4 billion up to April, 2013, rather than being frozen as promised — a cut of £70 per child.

Across the country, up to 250 centres — one in every 14 — are expected to close over the next 12 months, affecting around 60,000 families.

But Mr Clegg hit back telling the Chronicle: “Not a single Lib-Dem controlled council is closing any Sure Start centre unlike Labour and the Tories. This centre is wonderful.

“It’s important to come here and make very clear that these are the kind of things we have to protect, even in tough times.”

He said cuts had to be made but it was important to minimise the impact on such services, as Lib-Dem run Oldham Council was doing in making back-office savings to keep children’s centres open.

He compared this with Manchester City Council, which he attacked for closing libraries and leisure centres to “make a political point” — calling them “the slash and burn council of Britain.”

The Deputy PM denied that his party’s national unpopularity would impact locally. He said: “People are much smarter than that. What they want in the local election is for local councils to get us through this period as fairly as possible.”

Mr Clegg was in a jovial mood chatting with mums and children. He told one six-year-old he loved bouncy castles and lamented that he was unable to join in with a sing-song.

Children’s centre leader Nicola Dillon said: “It’s important for him to be here as he needs to see what happens in the centre and the support we give individual families.”

Aaron Atkinson, service manager for the council’s preventative services that commission children’s centres, said grant changes have meant that efficiencies have to be made, but not on front-line services and there were never any plans to close children’s centres.

Philippa Lancashire (29), from Moorside, attends the centre twice a week with son Joshua (21 months). She said: “It’s massively important. It’s our social network. Mr Clegg seemed very nice. It’s good that he’s been to see what happens here.”

Joanne Oaks (30), from Oldham, who attends three times a week with daughter Olivia (11 months), said the centre had even helped her find job opportunities.