More than 350 Sure Start children’s centres have closed in England since 2010, with only eight new centres opening over that period, according to parliamentary answers.
Spending on the centres in the 2015-16 financial year was 47% less in real terms than in 2010, according to Labour MP Dan Jarvis, who obtained the information from the Department for Education (DfE).
Jarvis, who on Friday will put a bill before the Commons on tackling child poverty, said the scale of the cuts meant the government had broken its promise to protect Sure Start centres.
“Cuts of this scale to Sure Start children’s centres risks the future wellbeing of our children,” Jarvis said.
“The lack of real investment in early years education is deeply concerning. The government should be supporting Sure Start children’s centres, not closing them … Giving our children the best possible start in life should be a priority for every government.” Questions submitted by Jarvis late last year, revealed that 156 Sure Start centres closed in 2015, almost double the number of the previous year.
At the time, the Pre-school Learning Alliance, which campaigns on early years issues, said the scale of closures appeared to run counter to the government’s narrative on improving life chances across society.
The Sure Start system was established in the late 1990s by the Labour government, with a mission to provide help to infants from disadvantaged backgrounds before they started school.
In new questions, Jarvis asked how many Sure Start centres had closed in England during 2016. Caroline Dinenage, the junior education minister, said 64 had closed according to local authority data, with 3,251 remaining. From 2010 to 2015, 313 had closed, making a total of 377.
Asked how many new centres had opened over the period, Dinenage said the total was eight since April 2010.
Jarvis said spending on Sure Start was now £600m less in real terms than in 2010, with £60m more real-terms cuts planned this year. His bill to require the government to set a target to reduce child poverty will receive a second reading in parliament on Friday.
A DfE spokeswoman said the government was committed to giving children a good start and supporting working families with the costs of childcare.
“We are investing a record £6bn in childcare per year by 2020 and this includes extra support for disadvantaged families,” she said.
“Many councils are merging centres to allow services to be delivered more efficiently. Where they decide to close a children’s centre site, they must demonstrate that the outcomes for children would not be adversely affected and will not compromise the duty to have sufficient children’s centres to meet local need.”