He told delegates at a conference in London, 'Our investment in good-quality early education, childcare and family support is the most important investment we can make for the future. We know the difference it can make to children's lives. Children in good-quality early years settings learn and behave better when they go on to school.'
At the end of the current spending review, the budget for programmes under the Sure Start umbrella will rise to 1.5bn a year for 2005 and 2006.
More than 700 delegates at the Sure Start national conference in London on 10 December were given the chance to put questions to the education secretary, with panel members Chris Pond, undersecretary of state in the Department for Work and Pensions, and Dr Stephen Ladyman, undersecretary of state in the Department of Health, during a session chaired by Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee.
Speaking during the session, Mr Clarke said he was committed to 'an ambitious programme' for developing services for children and families. He was replying to the concerns of a delegate from Lincolnshire who queried its long-term sustainability, especially in rural areas, if funding eventually became mainstreamed.
Mr Clarke said that the challenge was ensuring the programme was sustainable and that more financial resources would be needed if it were to become 'universal'. The question was whether 'we accept the constraints of public expenditure' or try to find funding from resources other than the Exchequer, he added.
The unresolved issue of whether there should be a standalone sector skills council for childcare and the early years was also raised. Mr Clarke said this was still under discussion. 'We're looking very actively at this now, at how we can organise specialisms and professions better.'
Dr Ladyman added that the question was how large sector skills councils would become. 'We genuinely do want to get this right and will only do that if we have the views of the workforce,' he said.
During her keynote speech, children's minister Margaret Hodge spoke about the principles raised in the Green Paper and outlined the way forward for the next parliamentary session. She said, 'It sets a radical and very transforming agenda for children over the next generation.'