Those looking for significant change will be disappointed, however, as growth has slowed considerably and the acquisition of Manor Tree by CfBT is the only deal to have had a major impact.
Future progress will depend to some extent on the roll-out of the children's centre programme, and our eight-page 'All About...' guide this week looks at the progress of phase two (pages 17-24). Limited funds and a tight timescale mean that there are worries about implementation and sustainability, but also opportunities for imaginative working with a range of partners, as our case studies show.
As if there wasn't enough to contend with, the Government's proposals to shake up the state education system and take schools out of local authority control could put the extended schools programme in jeopardy (News, page 4). And with schools expected to be the venue for co-location of extended services and children's centres, the reverberations could be felt even more widely. Some serious head-scratching will be going on among local authority managers leading these initiatives. Will they have the duty to provide services without the power to enforce participation?
