Agenda item

To determine the future model for Early Years and Children’s Centres to be delivered within the reduced budget available, following Council budget decisions in February 2014.  To consider whether to support a ‘Right to Provide’ request from Children's Centre staff who would like to explore establishing a ‘staff mutual’ to deliver a range of services.

Vicky Drew in a statement [a copy of which is attached to these Minutes as Appendix 15 and on the Council’s website] referred to the fact that Children’s Centres were being shut all over the country and appealed to Cabinet to avoid closing any in the area.

Councillor Liz Hardman in an ad hoc statement reminded Cabinet of the huge consultation process which had taken place earlier in the year and asked what part the feedback had played in the thinking leading up to the current proposals.  She observed that 70% of the respondents had been parents.  She encouraged Cabinet to give an opportunity for the proposed staff co-operative to be put in place.

Councillor John Bull in an ad hoc statement said that Children’s Centres were still faced with cuts of £1M.  The business case for a staff mutual would take 18 months to prepare and he asked Cabinet to allow time for this to happen.  He suggested that funds could be used from the Council’s reserves to suspend any plans until the end of the financial year, so as not to make any changes which would be impossible to reinstate at a later date.

Councillor Michael Evans in an ad hoc statement emphasised that it was not possible to use funds which should be available to future generations.  He pointed out that it had never been intended that the Sure Start initiative would provide universal access to services.  He recognised the ability of a staff mutual to access certain external funding which the Council as a public body was prevented from accessing.  He gave credit to the Cabinet that it had been able to avoid closing any Children’s Centres.

Councillor Eleanor Jackson in an ad hoc statement acknowledged the diminishing funds available, but emphasised that people wished to see Children’s Centres protected.  She strongly supported the proposals put forward by the Early Years, Children and Youth PDS Panel and the proposal from Councillor Bull that Cabinet should suspend any changes during the current financial year.

Councillor Dine Romero introduced the item.  With reference to the possible staff mutual, she would need to know that any business case would be viable.  It could possibly be in place by summer 2016 but would need time to mature before being floated off from the Council.  She thanked those who had contributed to the debate, including those who had responded to the consultation and particularly to the staff of the Children’s Centres.  She felt that there were two conflicting pressures: reducing resources and meeting the needs of children.  She proposed to meet both.  She emphasised that no Children’s Centres had been or would be closed.  She recognised the importance of outreach work and, as a result, the number of Health Visitors was being expanded.  She was confident that the needs of families would continue to be met.

Councillor Romero said she wanted to explore further the possibility of a staff mutual and that some additional transitional funding would be required while this was achieved.  She moved the proposals.

Councillor Simon Allen seconded the proposal.  He thanked the staff in the Children’s Centres for doing a very difficult job.  He applauded their bravery in submitting a Right to Provide request and reminded the Cabinet that the council does have previous experience of setting up mutual organisations.  He emphasised that no Children’s Centres had been closed but that they would be opened up to the community even more.  He felt that the alternative suggested by Councillor Bull would be too expensive.

Councillor David Dixon was very impressed by the management buyout proposal.  He strongly valued consultation but reminded Cabinet that it was usually impossible to deliver everything the public said they wanted.

Councillor Ben Stevens felt that the proposals were excellent and responded to Vicky Drew by reminding her that no Children’s Centres had or would be closed.

Councillor Dine Romero summed up by reminding the Cabinet of the history of the issue.  The budget for Early Years services had been reduced by a budget decision taken in full Council.  While other authorities had closed many Children’s Centres, this authority had not had any closures, nor had it increased Council Tax.  But the service will by necessity look different.

On a motion from Councillor Dine Romero, seconded by Councillor Simon Allen, it was

RESOLVED (unanimously)

(1) To NOTE the results of the consultation processes and the range of views expressed by respondents, both for and against each element of the proposed changes;

(2) To AGREE to implement the new proposed service model, in order to deliver the cost savings approved in the Council’s approved Medium Term Service and Resource Plan;

(3) To NOTE the ‘Right to Provide’ proposal submitted by Children’s Centre staff who wish to explore the development of a ‘staff mutual’, (which could help to enable some elements of universal provision to be delivered without direct Council funding), and to AGREE to permit the staff to develop a business case;

(4) To DELEGATE authority to the Strategic Director (People and Communities) and Cabinet Member for Early Years, Children and Youth, in consultation with the Section 151 Officer, to have discretion at key stages to halt the process if it becomes evident that the business case is not going to be viable;

(5) To AGREE in light of the above that the Council will continue to be the direct provider of Children’s Centre Services for 9 Children’s Centres until March 2018 unless a staff mutual is established at an earlier date for an appropriate procurement process to be undertaken;

(6) To AGREE in light of the above the continuation of the Bath West Children’s Centre Services (the 2 Children’s Centres contracted from an external provider) through appropriate procurement mechanisms to run until March 2018 in order to align with the in-house service;

(7) To AGREE that both the Council service and commissioned provider will be required to work together to enable the new two-service model to be progressively implemented ahead of a full re-commissioning process to let a contract that runs from April 2018 onwards;

(8) To APPROVE the inclusion of further transitional funds of £104,000 in 2015/16 and plan for transitional funding of £76,000 in the Council Budget for 2015/16, with transitional funding to be spread over the following 2 financial years to support these measures, due to the resulting delay in achieving the full implementation of the new two-service model;

(9) To INSTRUCT officers and commissioned providers to continue to promote and explore opportunities to enable some universal services, such as groups and peer networks, to be delivered without direct Council funding; and

(10) To ASK the Early Years, Children and Youth Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel to receive a report and review implementation of new models a year following implementation.