Wolverhampton children's centre is 'inspiration to the whole country', says childcare minister

Sam Gyimah paid tribute to Whitmore Reans Nursery and Children's Centre during a visit to see how health visitors, family support workers and educational support staff work together to help parents.

His visit came as the Government announced £2.2 million funding for local authorities to implement the Integrated Review in September.

This aims to bring together two-year-old's health and education assessments under one roof, offering parents a more complete picture of their child's wellbeing.

Mr Gyimah, who chatted with staff and joined youngsters for lunch during his visit, said: "I was very impressed by what Whitmore Reans are doing to make sure no parent is left in the dark about their child's development.

"We're helping more families across England to get valuable information in a similarly convenient way through the Integrated Review, and Whitmore Reans can serve as an inspiration to the whole country in showing how to deliver this policy.

"An accessible check for all at the age of two is absolutely vital, as it's a pressure point where issues such as speech delay and behavioural problems begin to appear."

The Integrated Review will be implemented nationally from September and will be available to all children aged two.

It aims to bring together the assessments given to two-year-olds through the Department of Health's Healthy Child Programme and the Department for Education's early years progress check.

Carole Bourne, manager at the centre in Lansdowne Road, said:"The review gives us a fantastic opportunity to build upon and further develop our existing model which sees health, family support, social care and early years practitioners working from one building to offer seamless support for our families."

Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter, said: "We know it's important to check children's health and development when they are two, so that if extra support is needed it can be identified early.

"Integrated reviews and the huge increase in health visitors will lead to better outcomes for children and families."

The DfE announced last week that it will pilot reviews for two-year-olds not in childcare settings to explore how they can be offered to all children.

The Government hopes the pilots will find a way to reach around 275,000 children who are not in early education settings.