Minister recalled to discuss "inadequate" response to report

• Special Report: Foundation Years: Sure Start children's centres: Government Response to the Committee's Fifth Report of Session 2013–14 (PDF 1.63MB)
• Special Report: Foundation Years: Sure Start children's centres: Government Response to the Committee's Fifth Report of Session 2013–14 (HTML)
• Inquiry: Foundation years - Sure Start Children's Centres
• Education Committee

The Minister for Childcare, Elizabeth Truss MP, is to be recalled to give evidence on the Government’s response to a select committee report on Sure Start children’s centres.

Publishing the Government response as a special report, Education Committee Chair Graham Stuart MP said:

“The Committee is disappointed by the inadequate response provided by the Government to our report on children’s centres.  This is a hugely important area, as it is widely accepted that the early years are the time during which good interventions can make the most effective difference to children’s lives. We called on the Government to take early years seriously and we feel that the response has failed to engage with that challenge.

“The Committee has therefore decided that it will ask the Minister to give evidence on the response, to fill in the gaps where recommendations and analysis have not been addressed directly and to explain the thinking behind the responses that have been made.

“Our December 2013 report was widely welcomed as an important piece of work and many agreed with our call for greater clarity on the core purpose of children’s centres.  We intend to continue to explore how children’s centres can be made to deliver better results for young children and their families.”

Details of the evidence session will be announced in due course.

Further information

• About Parliament: Select Committees
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