Written question asked by Colin Pickthall (Labour) on Tuesday, 8 March 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 5 April 2005. It was answered by Baroness Hodge of Barking (Labour) on Tuesday, 5 April 2005 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Dept for Education and Skills

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what steps she is taking to ensure that the involvement of parents in children's centres builds on the experience of parents' involvement in Sure Start.

Answer: Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps she is taking to ensure that the involvement of parents in children's centres builds on the experience of parents' involvement in Sure Start. [221413] Margaret Hodge: [holding answer 16 March 2005]: We are building on the successful experience of parents' involvement in Sure Start local programmes in a number of ways. Written guidance for local authorities and delivery partners emphasises the importance of parental involvement in the planning and implementation of children's centres. Parental involvement must be discussed with local authorities in planning discussions. A new Framework for Inspection of Children's Services will ensure that inspections assess how services involve children and parents. We are developing a mechanism for assessing the extent to which parents are involved in the design and delivery of children's centres services. And we will implement this when a greater number of parents have a children's centre planned in their area.

Secondary information