Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of closures to Sure Start Children's Centres on the level of demand for children's social services.

The department continues to monitor what is beneficial to the level of demand for children’s social services. In May 2022, the department published an analysis of the drivers of activity in children’s social care since 2013, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/drivers-of-activity-in-childrens-social-care.

This report outlines explanations for changes in activity, highlights children’s journeys within social care, and quantifies the association of social care activity with specific factors including family income and local authority of residence. It also summarises research around other factors including investment into prevention.

The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care made a series of recommendations that aim to reduce the number of children in care, including creating more options for children to remain safely within their family networks. The department is working up an ambitious and detailed implementation strategy.

Although no specific assessment has been made of the potential impact of closures to Sure Start Children’s Centres, early help services continue to play an important role in promoting safety, stability and resilience in families, thus reducing the need for intervention, including care placements. The department recently announced over £1 billion for programmes to improve early help services from birth to adulthood. This includes delivering on Family Hubs and helping families through the Supporting Families programme and the Holiday Activities and Food programme.