SURE START SHOWS POSITIVE IMPACT ON LIVES OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES - BUT MINISTERS SAY MORE TO DO

Children behave better and are more independent if they live in areas with Sure Start Children's Centres, according to an independent evaluation report published today.

Other findings show that parents have more positive parenting skills and provide a better home learning environment for their children, helping prepare children to do well at school and make the most of their talents.

Speaking at the first ever National Conference for Children's Centre leaders Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls welcomed the news that there are now almost 2,500 centres working with over 2 million children. But he acknowledged that there was more to do and pledged a package of measures to take the Sure Start work out into communities where it is needed most.

The package includes:

  An additional two outreach workers at each centre in the 1500 most disadvantaged areas, as part of the overall funding for children's centres announced in August 2007

  A review of practice on outreach work to clarify what makes good outreach work, with further training and development material and activities later this year

  £7m funding over the next 3 years to allow 5,000 practitioners to take up new training opportunities

  New guidance to help centres work with black and minority ethnic families

Secretary of State for Children Ed Balls said: "Our new department and the Children's Plan put families at the heart of everything we do - and Sure Start centres are the best way for us to help all families early on. Parents bring up children not the Government - and this research shows that Sure Start centres can help parents give their children the best start in life.

"I want to make sure all families can benefit - which is why we are putting in place a package of measures, backed up with funding and new outreach workers to reach out to the most disadvantaged families."

The outreach workers will provide effective home visiting and other support that can make a real difference to families who cannot or choose not to access services, providing important information and access to services such as childcare and family support.

Also speaking at the conference Children's Minister Beverley Hughes said: "This independent report shows that Sure Start is beginning to have real and demonstrable benefits for the lives of children and families, helping improve parenting and lay the foundations for children's happiness, well being and future success.

"Sure Start was never an event. It is a journey - to transform local services for the under fives and their families. It is at the heart of our aspirations to give every child the best start, to reduce social inequality and end child poverty. These results are testimony to the commitment of all those working to bring alive the Sure Start vision and give us cause to be cautiously optimistic that Sure Start can make a real difference."

Beverley Hughes also launched a new national network for Sure Start Children's Centre leaders, a communications toolkit and a brochure with a summary of services offered by centres.

The National Evaluation of Sure Start is based at the Institute for the Study of Children, Families & Social Issues, Birkbeck, University of London. The Executive Director, Professor Ted Melhuish said "We have found that the impact of Sure Start Centres has improved. This probably reflects the improvements in the quality of services being delivered, children's greater exposure to the services and enhanced efforts to reach the most vulnerable."

Research Director of the evaluation, Professor Jay Belsky, added that "These latest findings indicate that Government has responded thoughtfully to previous evidence, using research to inform social policy."

Bernadette Duffy, Manager of the Thomas Coram Sure Start Children's Centre in Camden, said: "It is great to see that the evidence from national research is now showing the difference children's centres can make. Over the last few years at Thomas Coram I think we have focused much more on what makes a real difference for children. The families who use the centre reflect our local community much more and most children have reached or exceeded expectations for their age when they leave us and transfer to primary school. For us it is about the centre provision complementing and supporting the home, it is about parents and practitioners working together to achieve the best for each and every child."

In addition, the evaluation shows that the positive impacts of Sure Start extended across all population sub groups including workless households, lone parent and teenage parent families. This is a significant improvement on the previous 2005 interim NESS report which found evidence of varied experiences for different groups.

The positive results are encouraging, given that other research shows that young children whose social development is enhanced, and whose family life is more nurturing and stimulating, perform better socially and academically as they grow up.

Sure Start is at the heart of the Government's transformation of services for children and families and the development of a new national network of provision for the under fives. It is also a key plank of our commitment to eradicate child poverty, tackle head on the effects of deprivation and unlocking the talents and abilities of every single child.

Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) were set up between 1999 and 2003 in the most disadvantaged areas of the country. From 2003 onwards the Government began to introduce a universal programme of Sure Start Children's Centres, and by 2006 all SSLPs became children's centres.

There are now nearly 2,500 centres open, with almost two million families now benefiting from the range of services on offer. The core offer includes early learning and childcare, parenting advice, health services and help finding work or training. The Government is committed to having 3,500 children's centres by 2010, one for every community, so that every child and family can benefit from the services on offer through Sure Start Children's Centres.

Editor's Notes

This press notice relates to 'England'

The new initiatives announced today are: the BME guidance, a national network for centre leaders, a brochure of children's centre services and a communications toolkit for children's centres.

Funding for the additional two outreach workers at each centre in the 1500 most disadvantaged areas was announced last year as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement. The review of practice on outreach work and funding to allow 5,000 practitioners to take up new training opportunities were included in the Children's Plan, launched in December 2007.

NESS Impact Study followed up over 9,000 three year olds and their families in 150 SSLP areas who were initially studied when the children were nine months old in the first stage of the Study. This fieldwork was undertaken between April 2005 and July 2007. The data collected from these children and families have been compared with data from the three year olds who participated in the Millennium Cohort Study (between September 2003 and April 2005) who resided in similar areas not receiving SSLPs in order to evaluate the effects of SSLPs on child and family functioning.

The research found there were positive benefits associated with living in areas served by SSLPs for three year old and their families.

Children in SSLP areas:

  Exhibited more positive social behaviour

  Exhibited greater independence / self-regulation

  They were also more likely to have received the recommended immunisations and less likely to have had an accidental injury in the year preceding assessment but these two outcomes may be due to factors other than Sure Start.

Parents residing in SSLP areas:

  Provided their children with a better home learning environment

  Exhibited less negative parenting

  Reported greater use of support services

The SSLP effects for positive social behaviour appeared to be a consequence of the SSLP benefits upon parenting.

The report discusses the evaluation methodology and in particular methodological differences between this NESS report and the earlier, 2005 interim report. The evaluation cannot entirely rule out that variations in methodology may explain some of the differences seen between the latest results and the earlier findings. The authors point out, however, that the 3 year olds participating in the latest study have been exposed to more mature and better developed local programmes throughout their early lives and that this is reflected in the positive findings. In particular, the government acted on previous evidence and placed a much clearer focus on providing high quality services, focused on improving outcomes for children.

It can be downloaded at: http://www.surestart.gov.uk/events/newsevents/whatsnew/index.cfm?news=322

and http://www.surestart.gov.uk/research/evaluations/ness/nesspublications/

There is a manifesto commitment that by 2010 there will be 3,500 Sure Start Children's Centres, one for every community, so every child and every family can benefit from the services on offer through centres.

Beverley Hughes, Minister for Children, Young People and Families, launched the report at the first ever national conference for Sure Start Children's Centre Leaders on 4 March at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, London.