Teather Charges the Kiddies

Sarah Teather's pledge for increased charging families using Sure Start has not had the attention it deserves.  As usual, making parents pay more was not an objective she proclaimed before the election, but I was also struck at the anti-localism element.  Whilst claiming to promote local decision making, Teather wants more "payment by results".  Money would be witheld from Councils or other organisations that cannot demonstrate that they have turned the lives of children around.  That sounds awfully like the invention of a centralised bureaucratic testing regime of the kind that this Con Dem government claims to be against.