Sure Start

David Cameron has vowed to pull “Britain’s underclass” back from the brink after this summer’s riots, pledging £448m to help local authorities turn around the lives of 120,000 of the country’s most troubled families. But here’s the catch – the £448m is only 40 per cent of the money that the government estimates local authorities need.

“The council swiftly admitted making an accounting error – to the tune of a staggering £6m.”

The Prime Minister got rather flustered today when the question of cuts to frontline services reared its ugly head in the Commons. FactCheck gets to work.

The claim “On Sure Start, the budget is going from £2,212m to £2,297m – that budget is going UP, that is what’s happening” David Cameron MP, Prime Minister’s Questions, February 9, 2011

Three months on from the Spending Review, when the Chancellor pledged to protect Sure Start children centres (and one month since FactCheck last looked at Sure Start) – charities are warning that 250 such centres could be shut.

Ten of the dodgiest and daftest political utterances of the year – as debunked by Channel 4 News FactCheck with Cathy Newman.

The claim “Sure Start services will be protected in cash terms, and the programme will be refocused on its original purpose.” Chancellor George Osborne MP, Spending Review statement, October 20, 2010 Cathy Newman checks it out The chancellor couldn’t have been clearer. When he set out £81bn of spending cuts, George Osborne was clear that…

Labour claims the Tories will slash £200m from the Sure Start budget FactCheck finds out if it’s true.