Issue - meetings

Background:

This report proposed a reconfiguration of Council services for very young children and their families and recommended that Cabinet approve the commencement of consultation on proposals.

It was explained that the overriding purpose of this review was to ensure that local services reflected the changing statutory duties required by Government; to maintain and improve further the strong performance of services; and to provide a sustainable future within the reduced public finances available over the next four years. 

The report gave details and considered a number of options. This included, in summary, an option to retain existing arrangements and spread budget savings across services and the option to close children’s centres across all or part of Medway. The third and recommended option was that Medway’s 19 Sure Start Children’s Centres should all be retained but with staff reconfigured into a smaller number of clusters, strategically led and managed by the Council, with a defined offer of front line services focusing on statutory safeguarding and early help, school readiness and attainment, and alignment with child health services.

To ensure that the views of all stakeholders were considered and understood, an informal consultation was proposed with findings reported to Cabinet in April 2016 prior to a final decision being taken. Consultation would engage with the headteachers and governing bodies of those schools, and relevant Academy Trusts, that were currently responsible for leading and employing children’s centre staff; partner agencies from the health service, public health, adult learning, training and employment; and relevant voluntary and community organisations. Additionally, information on the proposals would be made available for parents and other service users, and a range of opportunities would be provided to collect views and respond to questions. Formal consultation with affected staff would take place following the decisions that would be made by Cabinet in April.  

It was noted that a Diversity Impact Assessment would form part of the report to Cabinet following the consultation period.

Reasons:

Compliance with statutory duties, whilst setting a balanced budget with very reduced resources, requires consideration of how to reorganise services within available means. 

A report on the outcomes of the consultation to be considered by Cabinet on 5 April 2016, with full implementation by 1 January 2017.