Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of money spent from the public purse on Sure Start in (a) 1997, (b) 2007, (c) 2010 and (d) 2017.

The first financial year that the department allocated funding for Sure Start was 1998-99.

Due to changes in the funding mechanism for Sure Start over time and differences in the funding streams included in the Sure Start heading, it is not possible to make direct comparisons between Sure Start expenditure in 2007 and expenditure from 2010 onwards.

Expenditure on Sure Start in 2006-07 and 2007-08 was reported on page 175[1] of the Departmental Report for 2009: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130613001705/http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/d/departmental%20report%202009.PDF.

Since April 2010, local authorities have reported annual expenditure on children’s centres through annual Section 251 returns. This information is published at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-local-authority-school-finance-data#local-authority-and-school-finance and https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/section-251-materials.

Other government funding, including that for public health, adult skills training and troubled families may also be used locally to support services delivered wholly, or in part, through children’s centres.

[1]In 2006-07 and 2007-08 funding for Childcare and Nursery Education was merged with that of Sure Start. Therefore, expenditure in 2007 will not be directly comparable with other years.