Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much of his Department’s capital departmental expenditure limit was spent on Sure Start in each financial year since 2010-11.

Capital to support Sure Start children’s centres was made available to local authorities through the Sure Start, Early and Childcare grant in the 2010-11 financial year. Details of expenditure on capital grants to support Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare in 2010-11 are set out on page 77 of the department’s annual report and accounts for 2010-11 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-education-annual-report-and-accounts-financial-year-2010-to-2011.

Between 1 April 2011 and 31 March 2015, capital funding for children’s centres was made available from the Schools Capital Funding Allocations. Since 1 April 2015, capital funding for children’s centres has been made available through the School Condition Allocations. It is for local authorities to decide how to prioritise their capital funding according to local needs. Published data on capital allocations is available on the GOV.UK website https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding#funding-allocations-for-2019-to-2020.

The department does not record how much capital local authorities spend on children’s centres.