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Sure Start needs to be given time to draw in the most disadvantaged, say its defenders. Simon Vevers reports Press reaction to the National Evaluation of Sure Start was almost unremittingly negative, seizing upon the report's finding that some children in severely disadvantaged families appeared to have been 'adversely affected' by living in an area covered by a Sure Start local programme (SSLP) - and largely burying evidence of any progress.

Press reaction to the National Evaluation of Sure Start was almost unremittingly negative, seizing upon the report's finding that some children in severely disadvantaged families appeared to have been 'adversely affected' by living in an area covered by a Sure Start local programme (SSLP) - and largely burying evidence of any progress.

Practitioners who have spent the last few years laying the foundations for what the Government launched as a ten-year programme to help children under five and their families in deprived areas must have been scratching their heads in bewilderment and despondency at the suggestion that some of their activities were doing more harm than good.

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