Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which Sure Start Children's Centres have closed since May 2015.

Since January 2016, real-time data on Sure Start children’s centres and sites has been supplied by local authorities via the Department’s EduBase portal at: http://www.education.gov.uk/edubase/search.xhtml?clear=true.

Based on the information supplied by local authorities[1], the attached spreadsheet provides details of the location of children’s centres that have closed since May 2015.

Councils are merging centres to allow services to be delivered more efficiently. Where they decide to close a children’s centre, councils must demonstrate that children and families, particularly the most disadvantaged, will not be adversely affected and that they will not compromise their duty to have sufficient children’s centres to meet local need.

[1] The list of children’s centres closed since May 2015 is based on information supplied by local authorities as at 31 August 2017 (8:45am).