The Labour Government has underlined its determination to improve the lives of children across England with a cash injection of more than £4bn for children's centres, early years education and childcare.
The money will go towards:
* Providing a Sure Start Children's Centre in every community
* Outreach work to reach the most disadvantaged families
* Training and support for the early years workforce
* Ensuring there are sufficient childcare places in each Local Authority
* Ensuring every nursery and children's centre has a graduate to lead children's learning and development
The £4bn grant, spread over three years, will make sure that there will be a Sure Start children's centre for every community in England by 2010. Some of the money will be targeted at the most disadvantaged areas to enable children's centres to employ extra people to visit parents in their own homes and encourage them to take advantage of the services on offer.
Sure Start Children's Centres will give all parents and their children a place to go and a one-stop shop to find the services they need - from maternity checks to childcare to advice on getting back to work.
