More Sure Start centres in London have closed than anywhere else in the country as the centres have lost millions of pounds of funding since the Government came into power. 

In total 151 top-tier councils, out of 152, responded to FOI requests relating to the cuts.

The Guardian report:

More than 400 Sure Start children‘s centres have closed during the first two years of coalition government, with over half of those still open no longer providing any onsite childcare, according to Labour.

Despite claims by the prime minister, David Cameron, before the last general election that he “backed” Sure Start, Labour says £430m was cut from English local authority Sure Start budgets between 2010-11 and 2012-13.

London (126) and the south-east (62) are the regions that have seen most closures, according to Labour’s figures, which were obtained through parliamentary questions. At local authority level, the three councils that have closed most children’s centres are Conservative-run: Lincolnshire, Hampshire and Cornwall.

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I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.