PARENTS and carers in York will be able to access a host of information about the city’s eight children’s centres at the touch of a button.

The centres provide help and support for 9,000 pre-school children and their families.

The aim of the Sure Start Children’s Centres programme is to provide high-quality, integrated services to families with young children, which in turn has a positive effect on children, families and their communities.

City of York Council has launched a website dedicated to the centres at www.yorkchildrenscentres.org.uk Each children’s centre has its own area on the website where people can find out more about the services on offer, what groups and activities are happening. It also offers parents and carers a chance to meet the local team and find out how to get involved.

There is also a section for families to make suggestions and share their views on services within the children’s centre areas.

Sure Start Children’s Centres give all parents and their children a place to go and a one- stop shop to find the services they need – from maternity checks to child care and advice on getting back to work.

York’s eight children’s centres are located on primary school sites at Hob Moor, Westfield, Carr, Clifton, Haxby Road, New Earswick, Tang Hall and St Lawrence’s CE School.

There are also plans to build another children’s centre in the South Bank or Knavesmire area of the city.

It was originally intended to establish 12 children’s centres across the city, each one providing help for between 700 and 800 children under the age of five. Accordingly, the DCSF provided almost £1.2 million for four new children’s centres over the next three years. However, the council has now been told it no longer has to set up 12 children’s centres, but can develop sites with a bigger capacity to help greater numbers of children.

The council is now drawing up plans for a ninth centre, and to reach out to the remainder of the city through a mix of satellite sites and other outreach venues. No decisions have yet been made about the site of the ninth children’s centre, or of any other sites.

Coun Carol Runciman, Liberal Democrat executive member for children and young people’s services, welcomed the launch of the new website.

She said: “A lot of people like to get their information from websites nowadays.

“I know this will be welcomed as an easy way of accessing the useful information that the children’s centres can provide.”

“Our libraries also have IT facilities that can be used by anyone to access this information.

“I hope this will be a popular and readily available service.”