Agenda item

Report of Director of Community and Environment

Purpose of report

To consider the Council’s response to Oxfordshire County Council’s (OCC) proposal to close all its children centres and create a small number of family centres.

Recommendations

The meeting is recommended:

1.1       To instruct officers to respond to the OCC consultation process as outlined in paragraphs 3.8 and 3.9 of the report.

Resolved

(1)          That officers be instructed to respond to the Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) consultation as follows:

(i)         The Council in its response to the consultation requests OCC consider the following;

a)         Ensures that a sufficient facilitation resource is made available to explore alternative service delivery models for each of the current service sites

b)         Recognise that some emphasis should be placed on Bicester given its planned growth and therefore Option 3 is not supported by this Council

c)         Incorporate some universal services in its future service as a means of maintaining some preventative and early intervention focus

d)         That every effort be made to maintain the strong link between schools and children’s centres as a means of the most beneficial service continuity model

e)         Option 2 is the Cherwell District Council’s favoured solution to meet b) and c) above

(ii)        Whilst the Council would want to see the retention of the majority of the current service provision, it is not in a position financially or organisationally to intervene directly to do this. It is however in a position to consider a number of opportunities to assist OCC in the process of finding the best alternative overall service provision.

These include;

-           to consider this Council’s freehold title of the Sunshine Centre with OCC and the Sunshine Centre management organisation as a means of determining whether this will assist in identifying an alternative service delivery model – this is consistent with the Council’s emerging asset management strategy;

-           to use its community network in relation to the community and voluntary sectors to assist OCC in identifying alternative service delivery models at each of the affected locations;

-           to offer officer support to consider how current Council services can contribute to the viability of alternative service delivery models on a site by site basis;

-           to use the Brighter Futures in Banbury Programme and its multi-agency basis as a means of reviewing an alternative service delivery model for the town of Banbury which is based on identified service need and builds on the current service strengths. 

The Director of Operational Delivery submitted a report to consider the Council’s response to Oxfordshire County Council’s (OCC) proposal to close all its children centres and create a small number of family centres.

At the discretion of the Chairman, Councillor Sean Woodcock, Leader of the Labour Group, and Councillors Barry Richards, Andy Beere and Matt Johnstone addressed Executive.

Resolved

(1)          That officers be instructed to respond to the Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) consultation as follows:

(i)         The Council in its response to the consultation requests OCC consider the following;

a)         Ensures that a sufficient facilitation resource is made available to explore alternative service delivery models for each of the current service sites

b)         Recognise that some emphasis should be placed on Bicester given its planned growth and therefore Option 3 is not supported by this Council

c)         Incorporate some universal services in its future service as a means of maintaining some preventative and early intervention focus

d)         That every effort be made to maintain the strong link between schools and children’s centres as a means of the most beneficial service continuity model

e)         Option 2 is the Cherwell District Council’s favoured solution to meet b) and c) above

(ii)        Whilst the Council would want to see the retention of the majority of the current service provision, it is not in a position financially or organisationally to intervene directly to do this. It is however in a position to consider a number of opportunities to assist OCC in the process of finding the best alternative overall service provision.

These include;

-           to consider this Council’s freehold title of the Sunshine Centre with OCC and the Sunshine Centre management organisation as a means of determining whether this will assist in identifying an alternative service delivery model – this is consistent with the Council’s emerging asset management strategy;

-           to use its community network in relation to the community and voluntary sectors to assist OCC in identifying alternative service delivery models at each of the affected locations;

-           to offer officer support to consider how current Council services can contribute to the viability of alternative service delivery models on a site by site basis;

-           to use the Brighter Futures in Banbury Programme and its multi-agency basis as a means of reviewing an alternative service delivery model for the town of Banbury which is based on identified service need and builds on the current service strengths. 

Reasons

The proposal to cut the early years and early intervention services and in some cases close children centres and replace these with a much smaller number of family centres is of real concern to Cherwell District Council. The investment and foresight of providing children centres and early intervention hubs relatively recently has resulted in much valued and needed services for local people many of whom are our most vulnerable and needy.

It is clear that the current children’s centres and early intervention hubs play a key role in delivering important local services, most of which are County Council related. It is however also clear, that the scale of the required budget cuts require substantial change and result in little chance of retaining all current services and premises.

The Council wishes to support the search for alternative delivery solutions for each of the ten children’s centres and two early intervention hubs in the District, is prepared to play its part in this process and urges OCC to ensure effective facilitation resources are put in place to enable this to happen.

Alternative options

Option 1: to respond in a different way to that outlined in the report