Speaking at 4Children's annual conference in London, Mr Willetts, who has special responsibility for family policy, said that children's centres choosing this route would be funded by central government and would not be under local authority control.
Centre staff would be paid partly on 'outcomes' - for example, the level of infant mortality rates - and he said it would be easy for staff to use an 'off-the-shelf business model'.
Tory leader David Cameron has said Sure Start would be targeted at the most 'dysfunctional' and disadvantaged families and that staff would be paid partly by results (News, 21 January).
At the conference, 4Children launched the results of a survey published in an interim report by the Family Commission, the charity's 18-month inquiry, which aims to identify what help families need in the way of housing, financial support, childcare and eldercare and social services.
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