To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the effects of the Sure Start programme in Milton Keynes.

The Milton Keynes Sure Start local programme was approved on 8 August 2001 and supports around 800 children under 4 and their families living in Stony Stratford, Wolverton and Bradwell Abbey. The programme delivers a wide range of services to support local families including: outreach and home visiting; home start; training courses for parents e.g., assertiveness training, book start and a food co-op.; Asian Women's Group; and Urdu help line.

Since opening, Sure Start Milton Keynes has helped improve the quality of life for local families. For example the programme report that: the percentage of women breastfeeding at birth has risen from 45 per cent. in 2002–03 to 67 per cent. in 2003–04. Recent Sure Start Unit monitoring reports show that the programme saw an average of 42 per cent. of children in the Sure Start area each month between September 2003 and September 2004. The programme visits all new babies in the first two months of life. The programme has strong parental participation; the management board has five parent representatives.

Furthermore the programme will be designated as a children's centre in March 2006 and will form one of the three children's centres planned for Milton Keynes. The Neighbourhood Children's Centre, Fishermead has been designated and the Water Eaton centre has been given approval to proceed. Milton Keynes received capital allocation of £512,167 and a total of £325,112 revenue to support the delivery of these children's centres for the period 2004–06.