Agenda item

The committee to consider proposals to cease direct delivery of Council-subsidised after school and holiday childcare.

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The Committee received a deputation from a group of parents from Hornsey Ridge School who wanted to speak against the transfer of the after school provision at their school to St Aidens . This transfer of provision was  a consequence  of the Council’s curtailment of funding to  borough wide after school provision. The spokes person for the group was  Gwen O’Garrow  who reported to the Committee the exceptional current facilities provided to children at Hornsey Ridge school which were to a very high standard. On behalf of the deputation, Gwen O’ Garrow expressed concern about the facilities on offer at St Aiden’s which she felt were not on par with the current facilities at Hornsey Ridge school.  She proposed that the school should be given the opportunity to try and increase the numbers of children attending the after school club to make the service more financially viable.  The Committee heard that as part of the consultation, parents had not been given the option of considering an increase to the fees for this provision. This  may have been acceptable to them given the value and necessity of the service. The deputation called on the Committee to reconsider the recommendations of the report which were to reduce Council employed staff providing after school childcare and consider their duties as an authority to provide childcare for parents and in turn allow them to work or access education. The deputation further asked the Committee to consider the need for this service by the community in Hornsey and thanked the Committee for listening to their views.

The Committee welcomed the deputation and enquired about the activity previously undertaken to address the declining numbers of children attending this after school provision. At this point, in the meeting,  Cllr Wilson also declared a personal interest in his subject by virtue of his school governor position at the neighbouring school, Weston Park. Members of the deputation explained that there was little effective advertisement of the after school provision provided by Hornsey Ridge school. Following research, by the parents,  there was found to be no information on government websites or local websites on this after school provision .Parents at the nearby schools of Rokesly and Weston Park had been spoken to and they showed little knowledge of the existence of this provision which further highlighted the need for effective advertising of this school service.  The deputation believed that the opportunity should be given for this  as this would impact on the number  of children attending this provision. The Committee noted that the concept of improved PR had been suggested in the consultation period by the parents and sought further understanding of the number of children attending the after school provision. This was reported to be seventeen with children aged four and upwards.

The Deputy Director of the Children’s Service  was asked to introduce the report which contained proposals to curtail the Council’s direct delivery and subsidy of after school childcare and to which the deputation spoke in relation to.It was important to keep in mind the context of which the reductions to a number services provided by the Children’s service were predicated.  This was the requirement for the Children’s service to make £14.1 million of savings immediately in 2011/12.  This saving target was to be met through a restructure of the service and would inevitably mean that direct services, such as after school provision and were not  a statutory services could no longer be resourced by the local authority. Funding from central government was no longer provided directly  to local authorities for this service.  Whilst the impact was unfortunate on Hornsey Ridge school, the local authority were examining the priorities for services across the borough as a whole. It was noted that there were currently 14 after school providers in the borough  which would be affected by the proposals to cease funding of these services. The Schools Forum had agreed to additional resources for 2011/12 only, to assist with supporting the transition of the service to those schools that are able to provide the service on a sustainable long term basis.  There had been discussions with Weston Park school on taking over the after school provision to Hornsey Ridge school children but the school did not feel able to subsume this service.  The local authority had held discussions with the YMCA about continuing this after school service for Hornsey Ridge pupils. This centre was located near the school and provided after school provision. The YMCA service had recently  been assessed as a “good” service by OFSTED and  they were able to assist and admit the children from Hornsey Ridge after school club. Arrangements could also be made for the children to be walked to the centre from the school by a teacher / school officer.

Understanding was sought by the Committee on the previous activities of the Council to increase numbers at this after school provision given that the  funding was £45 per head ,a high amount compared to funding of places  in other parts of the borough. It was explained that there had been previous benchmarking exercises undertaken to examine the cost of after school provision per child per head and it had found that the subsidy provided by the local authority was higher when compared to other boroughs. There had been past consultation with parents at Hornsey Ridge School on this provision. Whilst parents were eager to initially register their commitment to using the provision , this was not fully followed up by all parents. Currently there were 17 parents signed up to the service.

In responding to the deputation’s concerns about the facilities at St Aidens, the local authority committed to re-examine this provision as it was understood that St Aiden’s had previously had an OFSTED report 3 years ago.

The Committee were advised that ,following the commitment of the Schools Forum to fund the transitional arrangements for after school provision, this would assist with funding the walker who would be responsible for safely transporting the children from Hornsey Ridge school to their new provision.

The Committee were advised that guidance was available from the Council to the deputation party about the requirements of setting up a voluntary group to possibly manage and continue this service if they wished to explore this as an option.

The Committee noted the findings of the equalities impact assessment on the disproportionate effect of the proposals on female staff and those aged between 44-55. The Committee were advised that the Council would continue to work with schools to, where possible and an option, continue the employment of the displaced Council funded staff under different management conditions.

 The Committee shared the deputations and union’s sadness at the deletion of this service which had in the past been recognised nationally as setting the example for childcare provision. However, the Council were required to reduce their budget by 41 million and were not in a position to fund direct or non statutory services. It would also be difficult to fund services on the assumption of increased uptake or increased funding by users as unfortunately the reductions to the Children’s Services budget needed to be made in a short term. The Chair reiterated the offer made by the service to provide advice the deputation party  in examining the option of setting up a voluntary group to manage this service.

RESOLVED

1. That the Committee note that formal staff consultation on these proposals began on 8th February 2011 and was concluded on the 9th March and that public consultation began on the 14th February and concluded in 8th April 2011.

2. That the comments received from staff and trade unions and the management response to these in Appendix 5 be noted.

3. That the proposed reduction in staff as set out in the consultation document (appendix 1) taking into account the outcome of the staff consultation be agreed with due regard given to the Council’s public sector duties.