THE claim by Councillor Nick Wallis (HAS, Nov 11) that the Conservatives “will get rid of the SureStart programme” is badly wrong but a good example of Labour spin.

The truth is that the Conservatives fully support SureStart and are not proposing any cut to its funding because we know that the first steps in a child’s development are crucial.

But like many of Labour’s expensive schemes, SureStart needs to work better, in particular to become more health-led, which is why we have proposed to refocus the money currently set aside for “outreach workers” to instead provide an additional 4,200 properly-trained health visitors.

It is unacceptable that Labour has cut health visitors by 2,000 over the past four years. Now the average time parents spend with a trained health visitor in the first year after their child is born is just four hours and six minutes.

International evidence shows that when parents receive more visits from health visitors, their children are more like to be healthy, do well at school, find better jobs and stay clear of crime.

Councillor Robert Oliver Conservative Children’s Services Spokesman, City of Sunderland Council.