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Sure Start
Jim Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the effects of the Sure Start programme in Weymouth and Portland. [215523]
Margaret Hodge:
The Weymouth and Portland Sure Start local programme was approved in 2002 and supports around 800 children and their families living in Littlemoor, Melcome Regis, Westham and Underhill
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wards. The programme has been allocated a total of £2,306,719 revenue funding and £1,000,000 capital funding from its inception up to the end of 2005/06.
The programme delivers a wide range of services to support local families including: occupational therapy, counselling services, health and social services, respite care for parents, individual support for children identified as needing developmental help and training in both parenting skills and basic education.
Since opening, Sure Start Weymouth and Portland has helped improve the quality of life for local families. All new parents are contacted within the first two months of the birth of their baby by a qualified Sure Start project worker. The percentage of children identified with speech and language development delay has been found to be much higher than the national average (37 per cent. as opposed to the national 20 per cent.) and these children and their parents are now provided with one-to-one help both at home and through support when they attend pre-school. Local schools and parents are beginning to report much better levels of overall development, including speech and language development, when children go on to full time education.
Local health visitors advise the local programme of all women identified with post natal depression. These women are offered a range of help, depending on their needs, either from local health services or from the Sure Start Local Programme which can include one-to-one support.
Recent Sure Start Unit monitoring reports show that the programme is in contact with 544 of the 794 children in their area. The programme has strong parental participation both in the management board, which has 10 parent representatives (up from three since 2000); and in activities where parents act as volunteers, including two parents who are involved in local evaluation of the programme with Bournemouth University.
Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the effects of the Sure Start programme in the constituency of Wellingborough. [216684]
Margaret Hodge: There is one Sure Start Local Programme (SSLP), one Neighbourhood Nursery (NN) and one children's centre (CC) in it's planning stages in Wellingborough.
The Wellingborough Sure Start local programme was approved in 2003 and supports around 730 young local children and their families living in the catchment area. It has an indicative allocation of £1,075,000 capital grant, all of which has been approved and has received revenue of £700,000 in 2004/05, and will receive £768,752 in 2005/06 and £768,752 in 2006/07. The catchment area comprises three separate estates which each form part of three wards—Queensway, Croyland (Kingsway) and Hemmingwell. The programme delivers a wide range of services to support local families including:
Since opening, Sure Start Wellingborough has helped improve the quality of life for local families. Local health visitors report back to the local programme on all women identified with post natal depression—including specific referral to the Sure Start programme to provide support. The programme funds a HomeStart worker to train and support an increased number of volunteers. There are four support groups currently running weekly where there are quality play activities and support for parents. A new group is starting in 2004/05 specifically for teenage parents. Groups which will run for specific periods of time are: Speakeasy (helping parents to talk about sex appropriately with their children), Parentzone (parenting course), EarlyStart (adult literacy and numeracy with activities with their children).
Health visitors aim to visit all children within two months of birth and give parents information about Sure Start services. Visit or contact is offered to all parents/carers not seen in the preceding three months. Roadshows" taken round to all three estates on a rolling programme provide information on aspects of parenting and respond to requests from parents for information. This five week programme deals with a theme each week which corresponds to one of the Sure Start objectives . The SSLP health visitor and midwife also provide outreach services.
As a recently approved round 5 Sure Start Programme, Wellingborough have only recently been required to submit reach data, however recent Sure Start Unit monitoring reports show that the programme is seeing 122 of their 729 children (17 per cent.) each month, and saw 11 per cent. new children in September 2004 as well as visiting 89 per cent. of new babies in the catchment area within the first two months of their lives.
The programme has recognised the need to broaden parental consultation to all .families. They have employed community development workers to work with parents in setting up the forum and continuing consultation.
The Croyland Neighbourhood Nursery is the only one in the constituency and opened as a 42 place nursery in March 2004. The nursery was awarded £202,851 revenue funding up until 2007, and also received a one off capital grant of £175,000 from the Big Lottery Fund. It is part of the planned children's centre and based on a school site.
The children's centre will bring together the SSLP and the NN and also includes a maintained nursery school and a pre school. The centre has an indicative allocation of £80,000 revenue from 2004–06 with a total indicative capital allocation of £350,000. The Croyland Centre will be situated in Croyland Ward and will work closely with the SSLP to provide integrated daycare and education. Centre managers are currently negotiating provision at
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both sites with the Primary Care Trust and Lifelong Learning. The Sure Start midwife is already working with a community midwife to provide ante-natal care on all three Sure Start estates. Family support will also be available on both sites, with the exact nature of this dependent on the expressed needs of the families. A pre-school in the town will be extended to provide a further 24 daycare places.
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the effects of the Sure Start programme in Milton Keynes. [216694]
Margaret Hodge: The Milton Keynes Sure Start local programme was approved on 8 August 2001 and supports around 800 children under 4 and their families living in Stony Stratford, Wolverton and Bradwell Abbey. The programme delivers a wide range of services to support local families including: outreach and home visiting; home start; training courses for parents e.g., assertiveness training, book start and a food co-op.; Asian Women's Group; and Urdu help line.
Since opening, Sure Start Milton Keynes has helped improve the quality of life for local families. For example the programme report that: the percentage of women breastfeeding at birth has risen from 45 per cent. in 2002–03 to 67 per cent. in 2003–04. Recent Sure Start Unit monitoring reports show that the programme saw an average of 42 per cent. of children in the Sure Start area each month between September 2003 and September 2004. The programme visits all new babies in the first two months of life. The programme has strong parental participation; the management board has five parent representatives.
Furthermore the programme will be designated as a children's centre in March 2006 and will form one of the three children's centres planned for Milton Keynes. The Neighbourhood Children's Centre, Fishermead has been designated and the Water Eaton centre has been given approval to proceed. Milton Keynes received capital allocation of £512,167 and a total of £325,112 revenue to support the delivery of these children's centres for the period 2004–06.
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on Sure Start funding in Morecambe and Lunesdale. [216779]
Margaret Hodge: Like many other areas of the country, young children and their families in Morecambe and Lunesdale have benefited from significant Sure Start funding since 2001. There is one Sure Start local programme in Morecambe and Lunesdale (Sure Start North Lancaster). This programme received a revenue grant of £794,303 in 2004–05. It has an indicative revenue allocation of £814,161 for 2005–06 and for 2006–07. The programme has had £960,000 of its £1,000,000 capital allocation approved for specific projects in the area.
Evidence from local evaluation shows that a six-week breastfeeding peer supporters training programme was put in place for women living in the Sure Start area. five of eight women initially participating completed the course and were presented with a certificate of achievement. A second training programme held in October 2003, with women from a wider geographical
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area, resulted in 10 women successfully completing the course. The Baby Club started in March 2002 as a means to identifying clients with, or at risk o developing post natal illness. Between 1 January 2002 and 1 August 2004, over 3,000 visits to the Baby Club were made by parents and 3,200 by babies. In 2004 weekly attendance averaged at 18 parents and their babies.
The programme has also put together a comprehensive volunteer policy and developed an induction and training programme to help volunteers develop their skills and build awareness of community issues such as cultural diversity and child protection. Once basic training is completed (and CRB clearance has been gained) volunteers can move into work experience placements within any area of Sure Start's work. Volunteers have work shadowed midwifery, health and childcare colleagues and others have completed individual community based projects. 13 volunteers have completed the in-house programme, as well as parents on the management and partnership boards. Many have moved on to FE such as Pre-School Diploma and Access to Higher Education, while others have pursued training in job search techniques or employment.
Lancashire county council has a planned children's centre reach of 16,629 children under the age of five by March 2006. It is developing two children's centres in the Morecambe and Lunesdale area, creating 82 new integrated early education and care places. Sure Start North Lancaster is one of the two children's centres and has been allocated indicative revenue funding of £175,496 for 2005–06. It will deliver 71 integrated early education and care places by March 2006; 41 of which will be new children's centre funded places. The centre will reach children and families in the wards of Skerton East, Skerton Central, Skerton West and part of Bulk. An indicative children's centre capital allocation of £400,000 has been made available to the Ridge Primary School which will link to the North Lancaster children's centre and deliver further outreach services and integrated early education and care as part of the core offer. The centre is expected to be designated by April 2005.
The other children's centre is being developed in the Poulton ward based on a former Social Services Family Centre site. Lancashire county council have allocated indicative children's centre revenue of £317,134 and indicative children's centre capital of £1,000,000 to this centre which is expected to be designated by March 2006. This centre will create 41 new integrated early education and care children's centre funded places.
Lancashire county council has also developed two neighbourhood nursery projects in the Morecambe and Lunesdale area delivering a total of 57 new early education and childcare places. Sure Start has made available revenue funding of £284,215 and £23,505 capital grant in total to Lancashire County Council for these two projects.
Mr. Prosser: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the effect of the Sure Start programme in Dover. [216822]
Margaret Hodge:
The Dover Sure Start local programme has been performing very well since it started in September 2000, providing support to around
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817 children and their families. It was reviewed in October 2004 where it was evidenced that the programme was well established in the community. It is demonstrating excellent engagement with the children's centres agenda and is currently working towards developing children's centre status for St. Radigunds. It is also contributing to the development of children's centres at The Ark Centre, Tower Hamlets; Buckland; and Sunshine Corner, Aylesham.
The programme provides services for communities within St. Radigunds, Buckland and parts of Barton and Pineham. It sees all babies within two months of their birth and offers a wide range of services including: Sure Start befrienders; speech and language services; community health visiting; community midwifes; toy and equipment library; community shop; community psychiatric nursing; social worker; Playlink; Homestart; breakfast club; and daycare. The management board is chaired by a parent and there is strong parental involvement in the programme.
The total amount of Sure Start revenue funding the programme will receive from 2000–06 will be £4,353,948. It has also received £1,288,517 capital grant. The programme has invested £715,000 of this money towards the creation of a multi-purpose building in St. Radigunds.
Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the effects of the Sure Start programme in Loughborough. [217082]
Margaret Hodge: Sure Start Charnwood local programme was approved in April 2003 and provides services to a diverse community. The amount of revenue grant approved for 2003–07 is £2,694,849. The programme also has £1,000,000 capital grant available.
The Sure Start programme provides services to 679 children and their families in the area. The programme has provided us with the following information about the services that it provides.
Services include English language classes, crèche, IT classes, home visits and clinics run by health visitors, support for children with special needs, library outreach, child care classes, mother and toddler groups, and activity outings. Support is offered to families in crisis and with ongoing needs through family support workers and through volunteers.
There are seven parents on the management board and parents take an active role in interviewing and appointing all new staff members. Bookstart plus-provides books for babies at seven months old to encourage parents to read to, and look at books with, babies, 99.7 per cent. of babies received a Bookstart bag during 2003–04.
Sure Start services will be extended in Loughborough through the two planned children's centres. One will serve the community in the Cobden area; this has already been designated. The other will serve families in the Shelthorpe area. Leicestershire's children's centre allocation for 2004–06 is £203,740 revenue and £368,890 capital.
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Mrs. Fitzsimons: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) if she will make a statement on the effects of each Sure Start programme in Rochdale; [217106]
(2) what research she has conducted on the effects of Sure Start programmes in Rochdale on (a) literacy, (b) speech and language development, (c) levels of breast feeding, (d) smoking cessation and (e) post-natal depression; [217107]
(3) what assessment she has made of levels of satisfaction of parents in Rochdale with the services provided by Sure Start programmes. [217108]
Margaret Hodge: There are three Sure Start local programmes in Rochdale constituency; Castlemere, Deeplish and Newbold approved in 2000; Belfield, Hamer and Waddleworth approved in 2001; and Kirkholt, Turfhill and Wellfield approved in 2003. Between them the three programmes provide services to 2,300 young children living within their respective catchment areas. The programmes deliver a wide range of services to support local families including training in parenting skills, access to health services at the centres and outreach support to children and families in their home.
The programmes' funding for the current and future years is as follows:
These programmes are developing into children's centres and will contribute towards achieving our goal of a children's centre in every community by 2010.
The Department does not conduct research on the impact of individual Sure Start programmes. Instead, a comprehensive national level evaluation system is in place that looks at programmes across the board and will examine the effectiveness of Sure Start for children, families and communities over time.
Programmes carry out their own local evaluation. The available data from these show that since opening, the Castlemere Deeplish and Newbold and Belfield Hamer and Waddleworth local programmes achieved a 20 per cent. increase in the number of children scoring above average levels in the speech and language measure assessment on children aged 2 years, and a reduction of 6 per cent. in the number of children scoring below the average levels.
Since these two programmes were approved there has been on average an increase of 60 per cent. in the number of mothers breastfeeding.
A user satisfaction survey is conducted by each programme after its opening and thereafter on a three-year cycle. Within the Castlemere, Deeplish and Newbold local programme area 95 per cent. of families responded that they were satisfied" or very satisfied"
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with the programme's services in April 2003. In September 2003 the corresponding survey in the Belfield, Hamer and Waddleworth local programme area showed that 98 per cent. of families were satisfied" or very satisfied". The Kirkholt, Turfhill and Wellfield programme is due to report in September 2005.
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many Sure Start centres in each region have parental support and relationship support services. [217153]
Margaret Hodge: There are 524 Sure Start local programmes across England.
All 524 Sure Start local programmes deliver parenting support services to families in their areas. These services range from general advice on parenting skills to more specialised help and support for families in times of crisis. This work includes support to parents undergoing
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relationship problems and can include respite care. In delivering family support services local programmes work in partnership with a wide range of partners from the mainstream to the voluntary sector.
We expect all local programmes to develop into children centres to help us meet our target of a children's centre in every community by 2010. All these centres will offer family support services.
Phil Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much money has been allocated to Sure Start provision in Kettering in each year since it was first introduced; and if she will make a statement on the programme. [217285]
Margaret Hodge: Kettering has one Sure Start local programme (SSLP), one Neighbourhood Nursery (NN) and one planned children's centre (CC) receiving funding from the Sure Start Unit. Money has been allocated as indicated in the following table.
(48) Indicative.
(49) Not yet allocated.
Sure Start 4 Wards", the Sure Start local programme which supports families and young children across Kettering, was approved in September 2002. The programme works closely with a number of providers to improve support for young children and their families, delivering a variety of services including: reading groups; parent support; fathers' group; parenting skills; baby massage; breastfeeding support; and outreach services through Citizen's Advice Bureau.
The Sure Start programme undertook a local evaluation of their services in 2003/04 and as part of this they recruited and trained eight parents to take a questionnaire out to a range of local toddler groups. The survey also included the opportunity for parents to feedback their suggestions for improvements. 75 per cent. of respondents said the quality of the Sure Start services they received was very good" and that their child had done new things as a result of involvement with the programme.
The programme has invested £938,000 of their capital grant in a new building which will provide a family centre, 26 full day care places and accommodation for up to 20 multi-disciplinary workers under one roof.
The Grange Neighbourhood Nursery opened in January 2004 and provides 62 full daycare places, 54 of which are funded through Neighbourhood Nurseries Initiative. This nursery is based on a school site which also incorporates a Healthy Living Centre and a community sports and arts facility.
A children's centre is planned for the Grange school which is approximately half a mile from the Sure Start local programme building. Both sites will provide integrated full daycare places and early learning in due course and an additional 24 places will be created by extending another setting. The children's centre will build on the existing provision already available in Kettering.
Mrs. Dean: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the effects of the Sure Start programme in Inner Burton in East Staffordshire. [218383]
Margaret Hodge: Sure Start Inner Burton was established in 2001. 687 families with a total of 717 children are currently registered with the programme. It has received a capital allocation of £1 million and a revenue allocation of £746,000 in 2003–04 and £764,650 in 2004–05. We have just written to the programme announcing its future revenue allocations of £783,766 in 2005–06 and the same amount in 2006–07.
The programme has achieved a number of successes, including raising the proportion of mothers with children breastfeeding from 40 per cent. in 2002–03 to 50 per cent. in 2003–04. In 2002–03 the programme made 21,000 face to face contacts with children and families.
East Staffordshire children's centre is located in the north of the programme's area and provides integrated education and day care on a full day, part day, or casual crèche basis, combined with health, family support and a range of services including JobCentre Plus drop-in sessions and Children's Information Service signposting. Other services and facilities planned or provided include a toy library, training room and access to computer facilities for parents.
Families in the programme's area will also have access to outreach services provided at Queen Street Community Centre, to be opened in March 2005, which will consist of a child minder support group, volunteer
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training, speech and language therapy sessions, ante-natal activities, English as a second language classes, a Saturday group and evening dads' group.
Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what estimate she has made of the number of families who have participated in the Sure Start programme in Hartlepool since the programme began; [218505]
(2) what plans she has to roll out the Sure Start programme to cover all of Hartlepool; [218506]
(3) what estimate she has made of the effects of Sure Start on the educational attainment of children in Hartlepool since the programme began. [218507]
Margaret Hodge: There are three Sure Start local programmes in Hartlepool, which are all at different stages of development. Sure Start South is a round two programme and began to develop its services from 2000. It has received £2,972,982 revenue and £1 million capital grant to date. Sure Start North is round three and services began to be delivered in 2000. It has received £2,349,675 revenue and £1 million capital grant to date. Sure Start Central began to deliver services in 2003. It has received £1,425,000 revenue and £l million capital grant to date.
The three programmes have provided services to approximately 2,673 families since they began to deliver services. This is broken down as follows: Sure Start South 533; Sure Start North 1,014; and Sure Start Central 1,136.
There are seven neighbourhood nurseries in Hartlepool providing a total of 291 places. Two of these are linked to the local programmes (Sure Start Central and Sure Start South). The total funding for these nurseries is £1,143,201 capital and £938,063 revenue. There were a total of 1,050 three-year-olds in free nursery education places across Hartlepool in 2004. The figure for four-year-olds was 1,100.
Each of the local programmes has implemented a number of initiatives within their respective catchment areas to help improve children's ability to learn.
Bookstart Plus project has been developed in conjunction with Hartlepool libraries. The initiative provides a free book for all children living in the Sure Start area when they are 12-months-old and library membership.
Chattersacks scheme in local primary schools nurseries aimed to encourage families to be involved in children's learning, language development and early reading skills.
Delivery of full day care and regular playgroup sessions using Birth to Three Matters and the Foundation Stage framework, to ensure that all children are offered a well structured routine that will enhance their all round development.
Various play sessions/groups to promote speech and language development, in particular all children in the Sure Start area are involved in the speech and language measure and implemented as part of the Sure Start Pathway of care.
The impact of these services are demonstrated by the following.
Library membership of children aged 0–3 in Sure Start South catchment area has increased from a baseline 5 per cent. in 2000/01 to 12.7 per cent. in 2003/04.
Language development—the Sure Start South programme also reports that there has been a small increase in local word count scores (56 to 59) which are higher than national figures from Sure Start Unit (46 to 47). The proportion of children with higher word count scores has also increased slightly and there are no parental concerns about language.
Sure Start Central has linked closely with all schools in the programme's catchment area and operates a joint health, social and education methodology. Each school has a COOL project offering sporting and educational opportunities for the 5–11 age range and they see 80+ children per session in the areas.
Sure Start will be expanded in Hartlepool through the roll out of children's centres. There is already one designated children's centre based on the site of Rossmere primary school, St. Teresa's RC primary school and Sure Start Hartlepool South. Four more children's centres will be designated by March 2006. Both the central and north programmes will be included in this.
Hartlepool local authority is planning to open a further five children's centres by March 2008 with a town wide approach to create a children's centre in every community by 2010.
Mrs. Humble: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the effects of the Sure Start programme in Fleetwood. [218775]
Margaret Hodge: The Sure Start Fleetwood local programme was approved in 2001 and supports around 667 children and their families living in the Pharos and Mount wards, part of Bailey ward and Park ward. The programme has been allocated a total of £2,721,463 revenue funding and £1,000,000 capital funding from its inception up to the end of 2005/06.
The programme delivers a wide range of child, family health and parental support services to local families. As Fleetwood has one of the highest incidences of teenage pregnancy in England, the programme offers a well attended weekly Young Parents group to support and advise teenage mothers and fathers. The programme has also been successful at encouraging mothers to breast feed their babies. Six out of eight mothers attending the Baby Group now breast feed compared with two out of eight last year. Five mothers are also undertaking a twelve week accredited training course run by the Breast Feeding Network, which will be followed by a breast feeding home visiting support service to help mothers continue breast feeding.
The Start Now! Project run by programme brings together a number of organisations (Jobcentre Plus, Wyre Primary Care Trust, Connexions, Blackpool and the Fyde College, NHS recruitment, Wyre borough council) who offer co-ordinated advice and support for parents wishing to move into employment and training. These agencies have found that this group has enabled then to reach parents who would otherwise not use their main service. This one stop shop approach allows parents with complex needs to receive a joined up collaborative service and has been very successful in encouraging parents into training and employment.
The local new deal for lone parent advisors are working full time from the Sure Start main centre which has to be proved mutually beneficial with the NDLP advisors reporting an improved uptake of their services. In the last three months, six parents have moved into
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training and 24 parents have moved off income support into employment. This is a significant increase compared to the previous five month period where only ten parents had been placed into employment.
The Sure Start Fleetwood local programme has a high level of parental involvement and participation. Parents are taking an active role within the programme with 11 of the 18 volunteers being local parents who initially used Sure Start services. The Partnership Board also includes seven parent representatives, one of which is the Vice Chair of the Board.
Fleetwood has one neighbourhood nursery called Y tots which is attached to the Sure Start Fleetwood local programme. The nursery has received a total of £302,400 in revenue funding and provides 56 full day care places. Both the Sure Start local programme and the neighbourhood nursery are located within one building and form Fleetwood children's centre. All the core services will be delivered from the centre and to a further three wards on an outreach basis in community buildings and a primary school. The implementation plan for the centre received approval to proceed from the Unit in July 2004.
In addition, there were 800 free nursery education places taken up by 3-year-olds in maintained schools and other maintained private, voluntary and independent providers within the Blackpool, North and Fleetwood parliamentary constituency area in 2004. The equivalent figure for 4-year-olds was 860.
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many awards of the Sure Start strengthening families grant were made in each region in each of the last three years. [219802]
Margaret Hodge: No such awards have been made in the last three years as this is a new grant programme. Proposals for funding from this programme are currently being assessed and successful applicants will be announced shortly.
Ms Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the effects of the Sure Start programme in Birmingham, South West. [217584]
Margaret Hodge: The Birmingham, South West Sure Start local programme was approved in February 2003 and supports 867 children under four and their families living in the Bartley Green Ward and Welsh House Farm Housing Estate in Birmingham. To date the programme has had access to £1,402,122 in revenue funding and £960,000 in capital funding. A further £1,112,400 in revenue funding over the next two years (2005/06—2006/07) has been allocated.
The programme has helped improve the quality of life for local families through the delivery of a wide range of services including: the development of a Teenage Pregnancy/Parent Group to support pregnant teenagers and young mums under 21; the provision of a Child Psychologist and Speech and Language Therapist; the availability of nutrition and dietetics services; access to the Relate Counselling Service and Money Advice Service for families; working with the charity KIDS in the West Midlands to provide support to children with additional needs/disabilities; working in partnership
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with Barnardos' Community Plus Project" to provide family support and advice; outreach workers who provide flexible one to one support and advice for parents; group sessions for parents on parenting; provision of safety equipment for families and advice on home safety formulated with the West Midlands Fire Service; and links with Fircroft College enabling parents to access training courses. Several parents are undertaking South Birmingham PCT's short course Introduction to Community Family Work' which leads on to the OCN Certificate in Family Work.
The development of a children's centre on the programme's Doddington Grove site will extend Sure Start services to children under five and their families. The new children's centre will act as a base for high quality child care integrated with early learning as well as deliver other services like health, family support and advice and training to help parents take up work opportunities. Designation is expected later this year.
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