Issue - meetings

Background:

This report provided details of the outcome of informal consultation in respect of the proposed reconfiguration of Council services for very young children and their families, to reflect changing statutory duties, government policy, local priorities, and the financial position of the authority over the coming four years.

The Cabinet had agreed that informal consultation be undertaken on the proposals at its meeting on 12 January 2016. It was noted that the proposals would not involve closure of any centres, nor changing the range and nature of services currently provided for children and families. Rather, the proposal was for change to commissioning arrangements, management and administration, and back-office coordination.

Details of the informal consultation undertaken was set out in section 4 of the report with the outcome reported in section 5 of the report. It was noted that the very large majority of representations focused on giving views on how best the proposed reorganisation be implemented, in particular the prioritisation of services; targeting need and cluster organisation. Paragraph 5.11 of the report provided a response to comments from the informal consultation process.

A Diversity Impact Assessment was set out in Appendix 1 to the report, as summarised in paragraph 6.7 of the report.

Reasons:

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