The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Sure Start will be “decimated” by cuts, warns Field

Frank Field says that Cameron needs to act now to prevent dramatic cuts to Sure Start.

By George Eaton Published 07 February 2011 12:06

Frank Field could never be described as a knee-jerk critic of the coalition. He was memorably denounced as a "collaborator" by John Prescott after he became a poverty adviser to the government. For this reason, his warning that David Cameron needs to "act now" to prevent Sure Start centres being "decimated" by spending cuts is worth listening to.

In an interview in today's Times (£), Field says:

At some stage they are going to have to grow up, stop being King Canute and realise if they don't do something about Sure Start they are going to be overwhelmed by the incoming tide of local authority cuts. We are in a difficult phase. They are keeping to their localism commitment, but now there is evidence on just how dangerous localism can be. I see Sure Start as the biggest agent of change for addressing poverty and increasing social mobility in this country, but some local authorities are cutting it in half, even though the cut in their budget is 11 per cent.

A recent survey for two children's charities found that 250 Sure Start centres (7 per cent) serving 60,000 families are certain or likely to close by the end of this year. In addition, 2,000 (56 per cent) will provide a reduced service and 3,100 (86 per cent) will have a decreased budget.

As in the case of child benefit and the Education Maintenance Allowance, David Cameron said nothing during the election campaign to suggest that there would be dramatic cuts to Sure Start. Asked for a guarantee that the centres would continue to receive funding, he said: "Yes, we back Sure Start. It's a disgrace that Gordon Brown has been trying to frighten people about this. He's the prime minister of this country but he's been scaring people about something that really matters."

Since it came to power, the coalition has rightly emphasised the importance of early-years intervention, which all the international evidence suggests is the best long-term cure for poverty. But its disregard for Sure Start – one of the unambiguous success stories of the New Labour years – is the antithesis of this approach. On this issue, it is time for Cameron to listen to his own adviser.

Special Offer: Get 12 issues of New Statesman magazine for just £12

Tags: David Cameron

More from George Eaton

9 comments

Tue, 2011-02-08 09:33 — ang (not verified)

I couldn't believe it when Frank Field got involved with the Tories. They are taking the piss out of everyone except their banker friends and the royals, what did he expect, this is what Tories do, they don't care about ordinary people and they have made a fool of Frank Field, serves you right, traitor.

Mon, 2011-02-07 12:19 — swatantra nandanwar

Labour said at the last election that some Surestart would close one in five; but they didn't believe us.
All Councils are engaged in an Options Appraisal forced on them by Pickles, and in the end it'll amount to money. If its too expensive to keep, it'll go.
Surestart was an idea brought over from America, so some good things can come across over the pond. But not privatisation of services.

Mon, 2011-02-07 13:05 — Extranea (not verified)

The "Big Society" combined with the cuts is going to drag the government down rather than the BS being used as a cloak for the cuts as they had hoped.

Alot of people believe in some of the rhetoric of the BS but the reality is very different.

The dishonesty of the policies and pledges before the election along with the Big Society rhetoric is damaging the coalition

http://bit.ly/eLcyvL

Mon, 2011-02-07 14:25 — Bev C (not verified)

It's so tempting to say 'told you so' but what would that prove? Only that nice turns of phrase that sound good at election time are no substitute to a genuine commitment to bringing about a more equal society. Field should have known better than to get caught up in Cameron's superficial rebranding of the Tory party.

Mon, 2011-02-07 15:20 — Paul Bywaters (not verified)

Warwickshire is planning 17% cuts in the early intervention budget and two thirds of that budget funds Children's Centres.

Mon, 2011-02-07 18:57 — matthew fox (not verified)

God Bless Nick Hurd, lecturing charities not to be reliant on the state.

Cameron and Clegg both knew Local and Central Government pump billions into the voluntary sector, and when the taps where turned off, the Big Society would fail.

Thu, 2011-02-10 18:12 — Fair Comment (not verified)

I and a large number of residents fought against the poor siting of a SureStart centre in our town and we won. During this time we learnt a lot about Sure Start much of it good particuarly in poorer areas. The costs of it however were astronomical both in terms of set up and running costs. For this reason alone it does not surprise me if a centre is not really necessary or is under-utilised it will be axed.

Mon, 2011-02-07 21:56 — Miss Moggie (not verified)

Working with Sure Start has been so rewarding for me as an advisor. To encourage a parent with poor literacy skills to join an adult education course and see them progress onto an IT course and maybe find work or go on to further learning has such a positive impact upon the children. From the first Sure Start centres we have seen parents go on to find work and do vocational qualifications and older children go on to 6th form or college.
The Credit Union has also helped families escape what I can only call legal loan sharks (doorstep lenders) so reduce child poverty.
Add this to improved health interventions such as speach & language, healthy eating (there appear to be less obese children than in the early years) and tell me this isn't a cost effective service in the long term.