While funding for Sure Start, schools and further education has been ring-fenced until at least 2011, concerns have been raised that the Government plans to gradually restrict access to Sure Start services to disadvantaged families only.
The programme says that the Government will 'take Sure Start back to its original purpose of early intervention, increase its focus on the neediest families, and better involve organisations with a track record of supporting families'. It also intends to investigate ways of paying providers by results.
Neil Leitch, acting chief executive of the Pre-School Learning Alliance, said, 'There are areas of the agreement which will need to be fleshed out in the coming months, such as the coalition's stance on Sure Start. It will be interesting to see how the pledge to increase Sure Start's focus on the neediest families is put into practice. Will users be means tested, and is there likely to be a reduction in children's centres?'
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