A TOTAL of 23 children's centres are to be created in Worcestershire schools in the next two years at a cost of more than £4.5m.

The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) is to provide £3.5m to ensure the centres are opened by 2008. It is also giving £3.5m for everyday funds.

It has set the county council the target of establishing enough centres for 800 children and wants them to be in areas where there are a high number of disadvantaged children.

At the moment the local authority has earmarked:

l Six such facilities at Worcester primary schools - Perry Wood, Stanley Road, Gorse Hill, Warndon Infant/Junior, St Joseph's Catholic and Cranham.

l Two in Malvern - Great Malvern Primary and The Grove Primary.

l Four in Kidderminster - St Mary's First, St George's First, St Oswald's First, Offmore First and Comberton First.

l The remainder are in Redditch and Bromsgrove.

The centres would mark the completion of a two-stage project. The first phase was finished in March with the completion of 10 centres, two of which are in Worcester - Fairfield Primary and the Tudor Centre in Dines Green Primary, thanks to a DfES grant of £920,000.

The initiative, as well as helping school children, also aims to provide early education and childcare for youngsters aged 0-5 years from 8am-6pm, health services, family support and employment advice, information and training.

The details of the second phase are to be discussed at a meeting of the county council's Cabinet on Thursday, May 25.

A report sent to members welcomed the latest proposals.

It reads: "In order to ensure services are widely available and accessible, some centres could provide outreach to neighbouring communities.

"This ensures that all the families in the most disadvantaged areas are included. This is likely to be cost effective as it may reduce the requirement for capital build, yet meets the need for access to be within pram-pushing distance.

"Studies on the proposed locations will be important in determining whether it is practical to locate a children's centre on a particular site."