BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk// X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The short- and medium-term impacts of Sure Start on children's out comes. - Dr Sarah Cattan\, Institute for Fiscal Studies DTSTART:20241022T150000Z DTEND:20241022T160000Z UID:TALK220042@talks.cam.ac.uk CONTACT:Louise Gray DESCRIPTION:Introduced in 1999\, Sure Start was the first large government initiative to provide holistic support to families with children under th e age of 5 in England. The policy introduced a network of local ‘one-sto p shops’\, which brought together a range of services to support local f amilies with the aim of enhancing the development and life chances of chil dren under 5. These services included health services\, parenting support\ , early learning and childcare\, and parental employment support. \n\nOver the decade during which it was rolled out\, Sure Start became an increasi ngly important element of the early years policy landscape in England and shifted from an initiative initially targeted at the most disadvantaged ar eas to a universal programme. At its peak in 2010–11\, the programme rec eived a third of the total early years budget and had a network of close t o 3\,500 centres throughout the country. \n\nThe change in government in 2 010 brought a change of focus in early years policy – moving away from S ure Start and towards increasingly expanding funding for subsidised childc are to support parental employment. Between 2010 and 2022\, funding for Su re Start decreased by over two-thirds and over 1\,340 centres closed. The recent introduction of Family Hubs and the Start for Life offer points to renewed policy interest in integrated or joined-up family support programm es to support children’s outcomes\, starting in the very earliest days o f life. As these initiatives take shape\, it is critical that they draw on lessons from Sure Start. \n\nDespite the importance of Sure Start in the history of early years policy in England\, little evidence about the impac ts of the programme was known when critical policy decisions about the fut ure of the programme were made\, but research has been accumulating to bet ter understand whether and how Sure Start served families. \n\nThis talk p resents some of the latest evidence on the short- and medium-term impacts of the programme on children's outcomes. LOCATION:Hybrid: in-person in Cambridge &\; online via Teams END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR