Agenda item

Mr J D Simmonds, Cabinet Member for Education and School Improvement; Mrs A Gamby, Head of Early Years/Childcare; Mr K Abbott, Director, Finance and Corporate Services; and Ms J Smith, Quality Assurance Co-ordinator, Early Years and Childcare, Children, Families and Education Directorate, will attend the meeting at 2.05 pm to answer Members’ questions on this item.

Mr Parker declared a personal interest in this item as an LEA governor of Lawn Community Primary School.

Mrs Dean declared a personal interest as a member of the steering committee of the Children’s Centre to be sited at St James’ School, West Malling.

(1)       Dr T R Robinson, Cabinet Member for Children and Family Services; Miss S J Carey, Lead Member for Education and School Improvement; Mrs A Gamby, Head of Early Years/Childcare; Mr K Abbott, Director, Finance and Corporate Services; and Ms J Smith, Quality Assurance Co-ordinator, Early Years and Childcare, Children, Families and Education Directorate, attended the meeting to answer Members’ questions on this item, which covered the following issues:-

Criteria for Site Selection

(2)       In answer to a question from Ms Harrison, Mrs Gamby explained that Round 2 Children’s Centres were required to reach out to children under 5 in the 30%, and ideally the 50%, most disadvantaged areas (Super Output Areas) in the county.  While sites had been and were being identified so that the first 52 Round 2 Children’s Centres met this criterion, they were not being selected in order from most deprived area to least.

Process for Site Selection

(3)       In answer to questions from Ms Harrison and Dr Eddy, Ms Smith circulated a flow-chart illustrating the process for site selection.  Each Children’s Centre had to serve 800 under-8s so this determined the geographical area covered.  However, Ms Smith explained that a Children’s Centre was not just a physical building.  It was actually the provision of the full range of Children’s Centre services throughout an identified catchment area.  Mrs Gamby explained that the site selection process illustrated in the flow-chart had been introduced in October 2006 and had evolved since then as and when potential improvements had been identified. 

Involvement of Local Members

(4)       In answer to questions and comments from Ms Harrison, Dr Eddy, Mr Bassam and Mr Parker, Mrs Gamby said that her team had originally thought that engagement with District Consortia (step 4 in the flow-chart) would include consultation with local Members.  When it was realised that this was not happening, local Members had been specifically added at step 7.  Miss Carey gave some examples of where local members had taken an active role in the selection of children's centre sites and assured the Committee that the Cabinet Member for Education and School Improvement welcomed input from local Members and would be delighted to hear from any Member who knew of potential sites in their area.

Funding of Children’s Centres

(5)       In answer to a question from Mr Law, Mrs Gamby explained that the DfES had allocated capital funding of £9.1m to the County Council for the provision of 52 Round 2 Children’s Centres, an average of £177k per Centre.  In addition, the DfES provided revenue funding of approximately £180k per year for each Children’s Centre as part of the general Sure Start grant.  This grant was for the day-to-day operation of each Centre.  The services delivered from the Centres continued to be funded by the agencies providing those services.

Decision-making Process

(6)       In answer to questions from Ms Harrison and Dr Eddy, Mrs Gamby confirmed that, although the DfES was aware of the 9 new sites for Children’s Centres named in Decision 07/00942, the County Council had not yet formally sought DfES approval to them.  She explained that DfES approval was more to do with bringing together the core services into a Children’s Centre rather than just identifying a site.

KCC Press Releases about Children’s Centres

(7)       In answer to a question from Mrs Newell, Miss Carey and Mrs Gamby explained that press releases were normally issued at the time that the Cabinet Member took the decision to agree a proposal to name new sites, even though they were still subject to approval by the Sure Start Unit at the DfES.  Prior to the press announcement, the Children’s Centre’s host (eg a school or other facility) and the local Member were informed, but local Sure Start workers would not normally be informed because they were not directly connected to the new Children’s Centre.

Children’s Centre for Cliftonville West

(8)       In answer to a question from Mr Hart, Ms Smith confirmed that Cliftonville West was due to have one of the 52 Round 2 Children’s Centres but there had been great difficulty in identifying a suitable site.  Efforts were continuing.  Cliftonville West already had a Children’s Centre manager, even though a site for the Centre had not yet been identified, to arrange for the various elements of the Children’s Centre service to be delivered from different buildings, and to publicise the availability of the services to local families.

Offsite Day Care Facilities

(9)       In answer to questions from Mrs Dean and Mr Smyth, Mrs Gamby said that in the case of partial core Children’s Centres, where day care facilities were provided offsite by existing providers, it was not possible to insist that those providers reserve places for local children because they could simply choose not to participate in the Children’s Centre project.  However, under the 10-year Children’s Strategy, LEAs were required to promote the sustainability of childcare so, in theory, there was no limit on the number of day care providers who could be attached to a Children’s Centre.  Miss Carey added that the County Council was keen to ensure that day care facilities were available to all children in each Children’s Centre area. 

(10)     RESOLVED that:-

(a)       Dr Robinson, Miss Carey, Mrs Gamby, Mr Abbott and Ms Smith be thanked for attending the meeting and answering Members’ questions;

(b)       progress with the establishment of Children’s Centres be welcomed;

(c)        concern be expressed to the Cabinet Member for Education and School Improvement and the Managing Director, Children, Families and Education, that local Members had not been kept sufficiently informed about the identification of sites for Children’s Centres in their own electoral divisions;

(d)       the Cabinet Member for Education and School Improvement and the Managing Director, Children, Families and Education, be urged to ensure that, for all future work on the identification and establishment of new Children’s Centres, local Members be fully involved from the outset so that their local knowledge can be used to assist with the identification of sites;

(e)       the Cabinet Member for Education and School Improvement and the Managing Director, Children, Families and Education, be urged to explore ways, including lobbying the DfES, to include extra day care provision in any Children’s Centre where local providers were not meeting the demand from the area served by the Centre;

(f)         the Cabinet Member for Education and School Improvement and the Managing Director, Children, Families and Education, be urged to ensure that KCC press releases on the naming of new Children’s Centres be clear as to whether the Children’s Centres concerned have been proposed by KCC, agreed by KCC or agreed by the DfES;

(g)       in view of the significance to local communities of the opening of a Children’s Centre, the Cabinet Member for Education and School Improvement and the Managing Director, Children, Families and Education be recommended to treat future proposals as Key Decisions and publicise them in the Forward Plan of Key Decisions for up to four months in advance of the formal Decision being taken to send the names of proposed sites to the DfES for approval.