Agenda item

An electronic and paper petition has been received regarding reductions in opening hours and the range of services provided at Children’s Centres across Bath and North East Somerset, calling on the Council not to go ahead with these proposals.  There are 880 signatures on the paper petition, 231 on the online one.  According to the Council’s petition scheme, if a petition with over 1000 signatures of people who live, work and study in Bath & North East Somerset is received and meets the criteria, it triggers a debate at Council.

The Council had received a petition with sufficient signatures to trigger a debate at Council.  The title of the petition reads - “B&NES Council are planning to cut almost 40% from the Children’s Services budget over the next two years, forcing drastic reductions in opening hours and the range of services at Children’s Centres across Bath and North East Somerset.  We, the undersigned, call on B&NES to protect our Children’s Centres, and not to go ahead with its planned 38% cut to Children’s Services”.

Vicky Drew, lead petitioner, spoke in support of the petition. 

On a motion from Councillor Liz Hardman (seconded by Councillor John Bull) and then amended by Councillor Michael Evans, seconded by Councillor Geoff Ward, it was

RESOLVED (unanimously) as set out below;

This Council:

·  Thanks the organisers of the petition for bringing this matter to the attention of the Council;

·  Welcomes the opportunity to debate the future of Children’s Centres with the proposed cuts of 38.8% to Children’s Centres services;

·  Notes that a commitment has been made to publish detailed information regarding the proposed model for the future delivery of Children’s Centre services but regrets that this detailed information will not be available until February 2014;

·  Notes that the Cabinet has stated its intention to allocate an additional £500,000 to the Early Years & Children’s Centres budget, thereby reducing the planned budget cut from £2.3m to £1.8m (38.8% to 30.4%);

·  Remains concerned that the scale of the proposed budget cuts will still have a significant impact on the Children’s Centre services available to some communities with a significant number of vulnerable residents, such as Odd Down, Peasedown, Paulton, Midsomer Norton and Weston village, and in areas of rural isolation such as the Chew Valley;

·  Is concerned that the number and locations of the ‘hub’ Children’s Centres, as currently being considered by the Cabinet, will result in a significantly downgraded service at the proposed non-hub Children’s Centre locations

This Council resolves:

1.  That subject to Council approval of the 2014 -15 budget in February, the additional £500,000 proposed by the Cabinet for the Children’s Centres and Early Years budget become an on-going part of the base budget and that, in the event of the hub model being implemented, the majority of this additional funding be directed at supporting and protecting as much as possible the services available in the ‘non-hub’ centre areas, and particular to vulnerable families recognising that final allocations are determined using a needs-led formula.

2.  To ask that Cabinet reassess the currently proposed number and location of its planned ‘hub’ Children’s Centres to ensure that, if the ‘hub’ model is adopted, the ‘hub’ centres are situated in the most suitable locations so that the maximum possible Children’s Centre services can continue in all communities currently served by Children’s Centres.

3.  To ask that the Cabinet, as part of their forthcoming budget proposals, seeks to find further additional resources to further reduce the scale of cuts to Children’s Centres and Early Years services, beyond those mentioned in (1), with particular consideration given to providing additional ‘pump-priming’ and start-up funding to support voluntary and other organisations in taking on a greater role in the provision of Children’s Centre services.

4.  To instruct officers, when publishing details of the proposed model for the future delivery of Children’s Centre services to identify the ways in which the proposed service specification differs from the service currently provided;

5.  In respect of 4 (above), to instruct officers specifically to identify the following:

a.  The services provided at all Children’s Centres now, and services to be provided in the future;

b.  The number of children provided for now and number of children to be provided for in the future, including information about how it is proposed to target services;

c.  The current number and roles of staff in each Centre, and the future number and roles of staff under the proposed model; and

d.  The opening hours for each Children’s Centre now, and opening hours under the proposed model; and

6.  Agrees, when considering the budget proposal at the budget-setting meeting in February 2014, to take account of a) the contributions made at this meeting and b) the detailed information provided as a result of paragraphs 3-5 (above).

[Notes:

1.  Councillor Dine Romero had moved a motion, seconded by Councillor David Bellotti, that the Council budget amendment leading to the substantial review of services, the consultation that would be held and the intention to put the £500,000 back into the base budget and thanking residents who had signed the petition on Children’s Centres and contributed to the scrutiny process, and resolving to take these views into account during consideration of the 2014/15 budget.  The motion was replaced by the successful amendment.

2.  Councillor Liz Hardman moved an amendment (first 3 bullet points and 4, 5 & 6 of the resolution above), seconded by Councillor John Bull, which was carried by way of a named vote;

Councillors voting for (31) – Patrick Anketell-Jones, Rob Appleyard, Colin Barrett, Matthew Blankley, John Bull, Anthony Clarke, Sally Davis, Doug Deacon, Peter Edwards, Michael Evans, Charles Gerrish, Francine Haeberling, Alan Hale, Liz Hardman, Nathan Hartley, Eleanor Jackson, Les Kew, Marie Longstaff, Robin Moss, Paul Myers, Bryan Organ, June Player, Vic Pritchard, Brian Simmons, Kate Simmons, Martin Veal, David Veale, Geoff Ward, Tim Warren, Chris Watt, Brian Webber

Councillors voting against (30) – Simon Allen, Sharon Ball, Tim Ball, Cherry Beath, David Bellotti, Sarah Bevan, Lisa Brett, Neil Butters, Bryan Chalker, Nicholas Coombes, Paul Crossley, Gerry Curran, David Dixon, Paul Fox, Andy Furse, Ian Gilchrist, Katie Hall, Steve Hedges, Dave Laming, Malcolm Lees, David Martin, Loraine Morgan-Brinkhurst MBE, Mandy Rigby, Caroline Roberts, Nigel Roberts, Dine Romero, Will Sandry, Jeremy Sparks, Ben Stevens, Roger Symonds. No absentions.

3.  The successful resolution as set out above was carried on a named vote

 Councillors voting for (61) Simon Allen, Patrick Anketell-Jones, Rob Appleyard, Sharon Ball, Tim Ball, Colin Barrett, Cherry Beath, David Bellotti, Sarah Bevan, Matthew Blankley, Lisa Brett, John Bull, Neil Butters, Bryan Chalker, Anthony Clarke, Nicholas Coombes, Paul Crossley, Gerry Curran, Sally Davis, Doug Deacon, David Dixon, Peter Edwards, Michael Evans, Paul Fox, Andy Furse, Charles Gerrish, Ian Gilchrist, Francine Haeberling, Alan Hale, Katie Hall, Liz Hardman, Nathan Hartley, Steve Hedges, Eleanor Jackson, Les Kew, Dave Laming, Malcolm Lees, Marie Longstaff, David Martin, Loraine Morgan-Brinkhurst MBE, Robin Moss, Paul Myers, Bryan Organ, June Player, Vic Pritchard, Manda Rigby, Caroline Roberts, Nigel Roberts, Dine Romero, Will Sandry, Brian Simmons, Kate Simmons, Jeremy Sparks, Ben Stevens, Roger Symonds, Martin Veal, David Veale, Geoff Ward, Tim Warren, Chris Watt, Brian Webber.

4.  At the conclusion of this debate, a ten minute recess was taken.  The Council re-convened at 8.50pm.]