Isn’t it obvious that giving young children a good start by investing in Sure Start will save far greater sums being spent on education and social services in future?
Lewisham Council is one of many desperately looking at its Children’s Centre’s budgets to balance its books. Before Christmas it was proposing a £1.7M cut. Now that’s risen to £2.7M.
Officers propose that all 19 Children’s Centres will be taken over by schools or outsourced to the voluntary or private sector. But this “Big Society” approach will mean both loss of provision and fee rises for parents. For staff, it will mean up to 50 job losses.
Politicians can argue who is to blame. Families know they will be the losers.
Martin Powell-Davies, Secretary, Lewisham NUT
A response to Polly Toynbee's article in the Guardian yesterday highlighting the dangers to Sure Start funding cuts:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/28/children-legacy-debt-sure-start
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