Announcing the launch of the public consultation into the legal status of children's centres, at an event last Thursday (11 September) organised by the Pre-School Learning Alliance to celebrate the Early Years Foundation Stage, Sheila Scales, director of Early Years at the Department for Children, Schools and Families, said the aim was to 'put Sure Start children's centres on a firmer footing in legislation so that they will be a permanent part of the landscape in the way that schools are'.
She said 2,909 children's centres were now open. The Government's target is for 3,500 children's centres by March 2010 and it wants to give SSCCs a legal basis in the Education and Skills Bill.
In the consultation foreward, children's minister Beverley Hughes said that centres currently had 'no established legal existence'. She wanted to ensure they 'become an established part of the universal services available for young children and their families'.
The consultation proposes giving children's centres legal status and will mean that in future, whether or not an early childhood service is designated a SSCC will be a legal matter.
It proposes that the provision of SSCCs 'is not seen as the outcome of a time-limited funding regime'.
Local authorities would be required to ensure that there are sufficient SSCCs in their area and continue to consider whether private and voluntary providers can provide childcare or manage centres.
Speaking to Nursery World after the event, Steve Alexander, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said the move to enshrine in law children's centres and their continuity of service was 'a step in the right direction', but 'just decreeing that should happen doesn't necessarily resolve problems underneath it'.
He said the real issue of the sustainability of children's centres was not being addressed, referring to figures in last month's 2007 Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey showing a high number of loss-making centres (News, 14 August).
'The vast majority of providers in the managed mixed market are facing real challenges of survival and that can't lead towards stability and continuity of service,' he said.
The National Day Nurseries Association said high-quality centres were already under threat.
Chief executive Purnima Tanuku said, 'The NDNA is pleased the consultation shares how children's centres are an integral part of services and not time-bound by funding, but with many concerns around sustainability, we would question, if funding ends, whether local authorities will be then expected to find the money to keep children's centres running.'
Daycare Trust joint chief executive Emma Knights said, 'Parents will welcome a guarantee in law that future generations benefit from the services SSCCs offer.'