The 177 new programmes will cost around 400m over the first three years. They bring the total number of programmes in England to 437, and the Government plans to have 500 in all by 2004.
Ms Morris said, 'By providing this support in the early years of childhood we can prevent problems before they become too difficult to solve. As Sure Start goes from strength to strength, we are committed to backing it with very significant investment.' Norman Glass, director of the independent National Centre for Social Research and chairman of the Sure Start programme in Croydon, Surrey, welcomed the news, but also sounded a note of caution. He said, 'I have some concerns that the programme is expanding very rapidly. Will it be able to retain the quality? There's been very good liaison between the Department for Education and Skills and the individual programmes, but when you begin to move out towards 500, that's going to be more difficult.' Sure Start programmes are run by partnerships which involve local voluntary and statutory agencies and local parents. Mr Glass, formerly a senior economist at the Treasury and who led the original group that proposed the Sure Start programme, said this approach meant it was very difficult to get Sure Start programmes off the ground quickly.
He said, 'First you have to get agreement, then you have to get organisations to provide the services, then approve their programmes, and then employ people and plan the facilities.' It could also be difficult to secure parents' involvement, he added.
A snapshot survey of eight Sure Start projects by opinion pollsters MORI has found that parents had already noticed their children becoming more confident and developing better social skills, while they had also become more confident as parents.
