Children's Centres

(asked on 8th March 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, in what year the first children’s centre was converted into a children’s centre linked site.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 11th March 2021

The attached table shows the number of children’s centres and children’s centre linked sites that have closed in each local authority each year since 2009-10.[1] [2]

The legal definition of a children’s centre is set out in Part 1 of the Childcare Act 2006, which can be accessed here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/21/part/1 and in the underpinning statutory guidance, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sure-start-childrens-centres. It is up to a local authority to decide whether a centre (whether it is branded as a family hub, a children’s centre, or uses another name) should be counted as a children’s centre for data collection purposes, based on its interpretation of this definition.

The government does not hold information on the date a children’s centre converts to a children’s centre linked site.

[1] Source: This is based on information supplied by local authorities to Get Information about Schools (GIAS) database https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk and internal management information held by the department on historical children’s centre closure dates as of 9 March 2021. These figures may be different to previous answers, and could change again in future, since local authorities may update their data at any time. The GIAS collects data on children’s centres that local authorities have closed on a permanent basis. It does not collect data on children’s centres that local authorities may have closed temporarily in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

[2] The table sets out the number of children's centres and children's centre linked sites closed each calendar year since 30 April 2010. No data is held on the number of children's centre sites closed prior to 30 April 2010. No closures were reported in the period between 30 April 2010 and 31 December 2010.

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