Lancashire County Council has called on the government to provide financial backing to its family hub network.
The facilities – which deliver a raft of services and support to children and their families under one roof – have been financed by the Conservative-run authority since they started to open across the county almost 18 months ago.
At a recent county council meeting, members voted to press the government for “tangible support and…funding” for the project, which has now seen 29 of the one-stop shops established – at least two in each of Lancashire’s dozen districts. They provide parenting help to often vulnerable families from pregnancy through to a child’s adolescence.
While the funding motion received cross-party support, the debate surrounding it prompted a political fall-out over whether the family hubs were as effective as their forerunners – the last Labour government’s Sure Start centres.
Established in the early 2000s, the centres closed in large numbers across the country more than a decade later, including in Lancashire, during the austerity of the 2010s.
Former Labour county council leader Jennifer Mein said the loss of Sure Start had resulted in a generation of children arriving at school who could “barely speak, barely walk, [were] still in nappies and [had] teeth dropping out”. She said the county’s ruling Tory group was expecting the new Labour government to “change the world” that their party had “trashed”.
Meanwhile, Labour opposition member Erica Lewis branded the hubs “a pale copy” of what had gone before them.
She said she had lobbied for the return of the Sure Start initiative which research had shown made “an incredible difference in people’s lives” by addressing some of the “root causes” of poverty and inequality.
“It [also] helped break some of the cyclical issues that happen within families,” the Lancaster South representative added.
However, Conservative cabinet member for children and families, Cosima Toweley, said the family hubs were providing “a far better service” than Sure Start, because they were based on a “partnership” between multiple agencies.
“I am immensely proud of the teams in our family hubs. I hear every day how much they appreciate that we invested in them and how much easier [it is]…working in partnerships that work for their place-based need,” County Cllr Towneley said.
She added that the arrangement made “the best use of limited resources” and told the Labour side of the chamber that the party’s Lancashire MPs could suggest to the government that they “actually help us in this work”.
Cabinet member for health and wellbeing Michael Green said family hubs were “very well-placed to provide early intervention” when it was needed.
Deputy county council leader Alan Vincent added that Sure Start had been an example of policies pursued by the Tony Blair government that were “technically good, but..ran out of money”.