Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Sure Start centres have closed in London in each of the last six years; and in which boroughs those centres were located.
As at 31 December 2016 there were 3,251 main children’s centres and sites open to families and children providing children's centre services as part of a network. Children’s centre records are maintained by local authorities and are made publicly available via the Department’s EduBase portal at: http://www.education.gov.uk/edubase/home.xhtml
Based on the information supplied by local authorities, 107 children’s centres closed in London in the six years between 2011 and 2016. A breakdown by year and local authority is given in the table below:
Year |
| Number of children’s centres closed | Breakdown by local authority |
2011 |
| 11 | Barnet (3), Camden, (2), Hackney (1), Hammersmith and Fulham (3), Haringey (2) |
2012 |
| 9 | Bromley (7), Croydon (1), Lambeth (1) |
2013 |
| 23 | Bromley (5), Camden (1), Croydon (3), Enfield (1), Havering (7), Lewisham (1), Richmond (1), Southwark (1), Wandsworth (3) |
2014 |
| 13 | Barking & Dagenham (6), Barnet (1), Croydon (1), Lewisham (1), Newham (1), Tower Hamlets (3) |
2015 |
| 39[1] | Barnet (1), Bexley (5), Camden (9), Enfield (1), Harrow (5), Lambeth (3), Lewisham (11), Newham (4) |
2016 |
| 12[2] | Hounslow (8), Newham (2), Wandsworth (2) |
Total |
| 107 |
|
[1] Two of the five children’s centres reported as closed by the London Borough of Bexley in 2015 reopened in 2016 and are currently listed as open on Edubase.
[2] The total number of closures in 2016 is based on data supplied to Edubase by local authorities as at 10 January 2017; and local authorities could report additional closures in 2016.