Announcing the launch of the public consultation into the legal statusof children's centres, at an event organised by the Pre-School LearningAlliance to celebrate the EYFS, Sheila Scales, director of Early Yearsat the Department for Children, Schools and Families, said the aim wasto 'put Sure Start children's centres on a firmer footing in legislationso that they will be a permanent part of the landscape in the way thatschools are'.
She said 2,909 children's centres were now open. The Government's targetis for 3,500 children's centres by March 2010 and it wants to give SSCCsa legal basis in the Education and Skills Bill.
In the consultation foreword, children's minister Beverley Hughes saidcentres currently had 'no established legal existence'. She wanted toensure they 'become an established part of the universal servicesavailable for young children and their families'. The consultationproposes giving children's centres legal status and will mean that infuture, whether an early childhood service is designated a SSCC will bea legal matter.
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