Sure Start closure figures DELETED from Government website as part of ''data cleansing'' exercise

It follows the scandal of the Conservatives erasing all speeches and documents from before the 2010 election from its official website

All records of the Government’s sure start closures have been taken off its website, it can be revealed.

Education minister Liz Truss has ordered the details to be removed as part of a “data cleansing” exercise. But Labour claims the Government is trying to hide the truth about the number of centres it has closed since coming to office in 2010.

Official Department for Education figures obtained from a parliamentary answer show nearly 500 centres have been shut in the last three years despite a pre-election promise by David Cameron that he would not axe them.

In April 2010 the number of designated children’s centres was 3,631. This fell to 3,055 in November 2013.

But there are no recent figures as the information has now been erased from the website.

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