Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he has taken to develop the capacity and knowledge of parents and staff who volunteer to take on the running of their children's centre.

The Cabinet Office's Mutuals Support Programme provides support to public sector workers who want to turn their service into a mutual. This can include children's centres and co-operative forms of organisation. Further information is available through the Mutuals Information Service website (http://mutuals.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/).

The Department for Communities and Local Government recently announced a Transformation Challenge Award to help councils transform the way they run local services to put the user first. The Department for Education has funded work to support and encourage groups of parents, families and community members to develop their own community management models for children's centres.

All designated children's centres including those provided by co-operative model, are inspected by Ofsted.