Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the number of Sure Start children's centres for the provision of children's services.

Local authorities have a duty under the Childcare Act 2006 to ensure sufficient children’s centres to meet the needs of local families, and a duty to consult where changes are planned to local children’s centre provision.

As at 31 January 2017 there were 3,247[1] 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.

[1] Children’s centre numbers are based on information supplied by local authorities as at 9 February 2017.