Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Sure Start children's centres closed in each of the last three years in (a) England and (b) Copeland constituency.

As at 30 June 2015, 214 main children’s centres had closed since the beginning of 2013 following local authority consultation on the needs of local families. The department collects data at local authority level rather than by constituency. Cumbria local authority has not closed any of its children's centres. The numbers of closed children’s centres are given by year in the tables (a) and (b) below:

a. Closures in England by year:

b. Closures in Cumbria LA by year:

There is a strong network of children’s centres. 2,677 main children’s centres remain open, along with 705 additional sites. Most recent data shows a record number of families are using children’s centres and that centres are successfully reaching out to 90% of eligible families registered.

[1] As at 30 June 2015.