[Talk-GB] SureStart Children's Centres

[Ed Loach]

Matt:

> Is this not a suitable use of the operator= tag? Or is a SureStart
> centre so different that it deserves more differentiation?
> 
> In whichever case, I think that 'SureStart' should be fine.

The nursery where my son is (which I'm basing most of my knowledge of Surestart Centre's on) is definitely a private business (as the invoice I received today reminds me). Before he went there as a customer though he went one morning a week (then later fortnightly, then monthly) to see the health visitor and be weighed/whatever. The health visitor there was usually was one of the midwives usually based at the local hospital. So I think the SureStart scheme is a government run scheme using existing nursery schools and other suitable buildings (I mentioned the Family Centre earlier I think) and not really the operator of the premises (I suspect the operator of the Family Centre is either the district or county council, though haven't checked).

A quick web search suggests that while the coalition agreement will continue the SureStart scheme big cuts to the budget for it have since been announced - I wouldn't be surprised if longer term it will be scrapped by a similar scheme with a few tweaks and a new name (though this may be me being cynical).

Ed