Children's centres progress disputed

Nicole Curnow
Wednesday, April 27, 2005

The Government's vision of creating children's centres that are delivered in partnership with parents is 'not happening on the ground', education secretary Ruth Kelly was told at a conference last week. Ms Kelly made her first public address to the early years workforce at a Daycare Trust conference in London. But delegate Melian Mansfield, chair of the London Borough of Haringey EYDCP, said, 'You said in your speech that parents and children should be central to developing new children's centres. But the reality is that the core offer and the requirements of the implementation of children's centres and the general discussions that are going around in most local authorities are not about involving parents ...