Sure Start programme

During his 1998 comprehensive spending review speech, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, announced £540 million funding for the development of Sure Start, a programme to improve support for children in the early stages of their life.

The programme was intended to deliver 250 local Sure Start centres and a visit from an outreach worker for every mother in Sure Start areas. Evidence had suggested that some children were falling behind before they started school.

The centres would bring together:

• childcare
• primary health care
• early education
• support for families.

Services would be free to low-income families and chargeable to others.