Issue - meetings

i)        Report of the Monitoring Officer (Attached 1)

ii)      Report of the Director of Children’s Services (TO FOLLOW)

iii)    Appendix (For information only):

a)     Copy of the ‘call in’

b)     Draft minutes of the Cabinet Member (Children’s Services) Signing of 18^th May 2011 (subject to confirmation by the Cabinet)

c)      Children’s Centres in Haringey report from the Cabinet Member Signing on 18^th May 2011.

A decision on the above item was taken by the Cabinet on 18^th May 2011. The decision has been called in, in accordance with the provisions set out in the Constitution, by Councillors Reece, Allison, Whyte, Schmitz and Wilson.

RECEIVED the report of the Monitoring Officer (pages 1-4 of the agenda pack) validating the call-in request (pages 5-7) of the decision of the Cabinet Member signing of 18^th May 2011 (proposing a new model for Children’s Centres in Haringey) and the report of the Director of Children’s Services (pages 1-15 of the to-follow papers).

Committee Members also received various written representations from the interested groups prior to the meeting including:

·          A letter from David Lammy (MP for Tottenham) expressing his concerns that the clusters of children’s centres proposed would challenge the autonomy of the centres and the gains made in this area in recent years.

·          A letter from the Haringey Children’s Centre Alliance sent to the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services stating reasons why the proposed model was unworkable.

6a.       Monitoring Officer’s Report

The Deputy Monitoring Officer, Dorothy Simon, presented the report as laid out.

6b.       Introduction to the Call-in of Cabinet Member signing of 18^th May 2011 proposing a new model for Children’s Centres in Haringey by Councillor Rachel Allison

NOTED

• The Call-in had been signed by Cllrs Katherine Reece, Rachel Allison, Monica Whyte, David Schmitz and Richard Wilson in accordance with the Council’s Call-in procedure because the signatories believed that there should be provision of children’s centres across the borough and because stakeholders such as governors, parents and teachers were unhappy with the proposed model.
• The proposed model presented a gap in provision in the west of the borough, where there were areas of deprivation.  Families would have to travel more than 1 hour to get to a children’s centre, which they were unlikely to do in cold and wet weather.
• The decision to close children’s centres was contrary to the objectives of Haringey’s Children’s Trust Prevention Strategy and the Council’s Children and Young People’s Plan.
• Early intervention into child protection was vital and vulnerable children would be placed at risk if the proposals went ahead.
• There would be longer term implications such as an increase in anti-social behaviour of young people, which would cost more financially in the future than if funding was currently provided for children’s centres.
• The Council had the discretion on how funding was spent and the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services was urged to consider other options so that all children’s centres could remain open with the autonomy to manage reduced budgets.
• The Committee was urged to refer the decision to full Council for consideration.

In response to questions from Committee Members Cllr Allison provided the following information:

• Neither Cllr Allison nor the Liberal Democrat Group had received a response from the Council either acknowledging or answering their response to the consultation.

• It was essential to build a support network within the community and the 1 hour journey from the west of the borough to a children’s centre in the east would cause further isolation for vulnerable families who relied on play groups and other children’s centre services.
• Localism was important including allowing children’s centres to decide how to spend  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6