Agenda item

Mr S J G Koowaree declared an interest in this item as his daughter is employed at a children’s centre.

1.         Mr Wilson introduced the report and summarised the number and nature of responses received to the consultation. Approximately 80% of respondents had objected to the original proposals, with key issues highlighted including transport and staffing. The revised changes now being recommended (set out in paragraph 6 (1) of the report) showed that the County Council had listened to and taken on board the views expressed by respondents.  Children’s centre managers were being encouraged to raise funds for their own centre and to develop relationships with others in their local community.  Mr Wilson explained that the next steps in shaping the future of children’s centres in Kent, once the Cabinet Member had formally taken the final decision on the changes, would be a staff restructure and a market review in 2014.

2.         In debate, Members made the following comments about children’s centres in their local areas and about the service generally:-

a)         several Members commended the consultation exercise and welcomed the opportunities it had brought to re-shape and improve the service.  They supported the proposed changes and looked forward to seeing a more effective, integrated service once the changes had been made;

b)         Mrs Whittle was commended by several Members for her outstanding work in driving the consultation and the time and effort she had spent in visiting as many of the children’s centres in Kent as possible;

c)         the system of children’s centre provision has become disjointed and needs reorganising.  The service lacks a brand, and public understanding of the services available at children’s centres needs to be increased; 

d)         the data gathered during the consultation about the pattern of use of centres will be useful for the future and needs to be kept up to date; 

e)         elected Members need to be fully engaged in future plans for centres as they are well placed to support and help shape the future of centres in their areas.  To do this they will need to have an active role in monitoring the service following the changes;

f)          although the need for savings is acknowledged, it seems counter-intuitive to try to make savings in children’s centres. Centres need to be part of the re-shaping of service delivery, to incorporate Troubled Families and Health partners and promote health issues.  The support and advice that mothers gain from visiting a children’s centre are invaluable. The speaker would be urging his local district advisory board to ensure that services meet the requirements of communities, especially those in areas of higher deprivation;

g)         the next speaker contested the previous speaker’s comments about savings and reducing services as ‘misleading’; the current issue is clearly a case of needing to do more with less and being more productive.  The consultation undertaken is a good example of the County Council seeking public views and then taking them on board.  Mrs Whittle had clearly spent much time in revising the proposals in response to points arising from the consultation.  The innovative work already being done by some centres shows what can be done when local parents and communities take responsibility for shaping and running their own services;

h)         the consultation exercise on the proposed changes to the provision of children’s centre services can be likened to the programme of modernisation of day services for people with learning disabilities; people were fearful of change but the re-shaped services work well, meet needs and are now popular with users.  It is hoped that changes to the children’s centres service will prove to be similarly successful;

i)          the recent consultation had not been a comfortable exercise to undergo but had been useful in showing up the current availability of services and which services do and don’t work.  Although children’s centres are a valuable resource for parents, it is physically and financially impossible to have one in every community; and

j)          one Member said this consultation was the most genuine she had seen, out of many consultations over the years. This set a very high standard, which future consultations would need to match. However, it is sad that such extensive research into a service seems only to take place when savings are being sought.  The innovative changes proposed could have been made two years ago.

3.         The Cabinet Member, Mrs Whittle, acknowledged Members’ comments.  She said it had been fascinating, during her visits, to see the range of children’s centre provision around the county and the need to establish a consistent brand. Some centres linked to and related well to local schools, while others needed to improve their links to schools to ensure that children are better prepared to start school. The quality and suitability of accommodation currently used for children’s centres also varied, and some locations offered alternative nearby venues which would be much more suitable. She spoke of her personal experience of accessing postnatal services in her local village hall when her daughter was small and saw at first-hand new parents’ need to be able to access advice and moral support from other parents. She emphasised her commitment to maintaining support for parents by using outreach services and linking to the health visitor service.

4.         RESOLVED that the decision proposed to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Specialist Children’s Services, to make the changes to children’s centre provision set out in paragraph 6 (1) of the report, after taking into account the views expressed by the Cabinet Committee, be endorsed.