MULE to appear on radio alongside Manchester City Council Leader Sir Richard Leese this afternoon

Article published: Thursday, February 24th 2011

This afternoon (Thursday 24 February) Rich from MULE will be taking part in a discussion with Council Leader Sir Richard Leese on the future of SureStart centres in Manchester.

The discussion will be broadcast on North Manchester Community Radio between 2-4pm. Sir Richard Leese will be on at 3.15pm so tune in to 106.6FM for some hard-hitting questions.

SureStart centres were set up under New Labour with the intention of “giving children the best possible start in life” and to this end provide advice and support for parents and carers. This includes advice and guidance from pregnancy until reception years while helping people gain access to other services such as dental care and Citizen’s Advice.

The Children’s Services Directorate of the Council was one of the worst-affected departments in the recent budget, suffering cuts of 26 per cent that total £46m. The Council stated that it would withdraw financial support for community services such as youth centres and SureStarts while outlining plans for their running to be taken over by voluntary and private-sector organisations.

While it is unclear what will happen to centres should no suitable providers be found, Council Finance Member Bernard Priest last week made assurances that there were no plans for the SureStart centres to be closed.

More: QuickKick

Comments

Its crazy what has happened to the SureStart centres within the last budget. Surely the current government should use a bit of common sense and continue the financial support. Crazy!
Comment by Man and Van Manchester on February 24, 2011 at 10:46 pm
have you got it as a listen on line anywhere?
Comment by mickfuzz on February 26, 2011 at 12:18 pm

The comments are closed.

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