Hull North MP petitions Parliament for Hull children's centres

Hull North MP Diana Johnson tonight presented a petition to Parliament on behalf of Hull North parents campaigning against the loss of local children's services.

The petition to the House of Commons was inspired by the work of parent's working to save North Hull's McMillan Daycare Nursery, which has been threatened with closure as part of the cuts agreed by Hull's previous Lib Dem Council.

Hull is suffering a cut in the Early Intervention Grant from the Government of £70 per child from the Coalition Government. This compares to a cut of only £30 per child in Kingston upon Thames. Hull City Council's overall funding was also cut by 8.9% this year.

In response to the Government's funding cuts, Hull's previous Lib Dem Council agreed in February to cut the local Sure Start budget by 55%, from £9.9m to £4.4m, with children's services being cut by 32% overall. Hull City Council had mothballed 13 of Hull's 20 children's centres, keeping the buildings nominally open but axing services provided in them - such as McMillan Daycare.

The petition presented by Diana Johnson MP to the House of Commons reads:

"To the House of Commons

The petition of Kerry Stansfield and Abigail Flavell,

Declares that statements made by Ministers of the Crown to the effect that Sure Start children's centres across the country have sufficient funding to continue providing the level of service that they have attained in recent years appear to be contradicted by the reductions that are happening across the country; further declares that the petitioners believe that the resulting reduction in the affordable childcare in children's centres will discourage some parents from seeking employment and will prove damaging for the long-term development of children.

The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges Ministers to review the funding arrangements for children's centres to ensure that the valuable investment in the future that they represent is protected.

And the petitioners remain, etc."

Diana Johnson MP said: "It was a privilege to present this petition to the Commons on behalf of Hull parents campaigning to save the McMillan Daycare Nursery and as part of the national campaign to save Sure Start services.

"The network of children's centres established by Labour is vital for giving youngsters the best start in life and for helping parents to seek work. It's clear that the repeated claim by Coalition Ministers that they have provided enough funding to avoid cuts to children's centres is untrue and that they have broken their promises on children's centres.

"As a result, while Nick Clegg was claiming that no Lib Dem Council was closing a children's centre, Hull's previous Lib Dem Council was wasting money on making staff redundant in their disruptive scheme of mothballing most of Hull's children's centres."

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