Guidance issued to local authorities, called Children's Centres - developing integrated services for young children and their families, explains how the centres will aim to provide integrated care and education for young children, health services, family support and a base for childminders.
'The expectation is that most children's centres will be developed from Sure Start local programmes, new and planned Neighbourhood Nurseries and Early Excellence Centres,' it says. 'However, the Sure Start unit also wishes to encourage development from other existing local provision in the maintained, voluntary and private sectors. The voluntary sector may be particularly well positioned to develop services in disadvantaged areas and every opportunity should be taken to benefit from the expertise voluntary groups have to offer.'
The Sure Start unit envisages that children's centres that develop from existing Sure Start programmes will account for 350,000 of the target of 650,000 children, and the other 300,000 will be served by children's centres that are either developed from other existing provision or, 'in a small number of cases', are entirely newly built.
It says the children's centres services should be made available to families beyond the catchment area, to ensure a mix of children from all backgrounds and help ensure sustainability.
The guidance recommends that local authorities consider developing nursery schools in disadvantaged areas into children's centres. 'Nursery schools, of which there are well over 400, many of them in the most disadvantaged areas, have a strong tradition of high quality nursery education provision.
Most have enhanced their offer to include daycare and other services to be provided by children's centres. The Sure Start unit is very keen to see these services, where they are in disadvantaged areas, built upon to offer the full children's centre offer.'
Local authorities will play a key role in strategically planning and delivering services from children's centres, working closely with a range of partners including Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships.
The expectation is that children's centre areas will be drawn from the 20 per cent most disadvantaged wards, but the guidance says that 'the Sure Start unit will consider proposals within a local authority's overall strategy that include pockets of disadvantage in other wards'. Examples might include 'small council estates in relatively more affluent areas'.
However, local authorities will need to supply supporting data with their proposals and evidence of consultation that shows the areas chosen make sense to local people.
Early excellence centres that are outside the 20 per cent most disadvantaged wards will not be able to access children's centre funding, although they may develop a specific local role such as demonstrating integration in practice.
Local authorities that want to submit proposals for early one-off funding for a centre that already fulfils the criteria to become a children's centre are invited to apply to the Sure Start unit by 15 May at the latest.
From this month to October, Sure Start unit regional teams will work with local authorities to support their planning, and final proposals should be submitted by 15 October.
Copies of the guidance can be obtained by phoning Richard Neville on 020 7273 1244.
