Agenda item

To consider a report from the Head of Democratic Services, which presents background information relating to an Executive Board decision that has been ‘called in’ in accordance with procedures set out within the Council’s Constitution.

 

The original decision was taken by the Executive Board on 19 June 2024 and relates to the Little Owls Nurseries Review.

 

This item considers the call in request form submitted with Cllr Stephenson as the lead signatory.

The Head of Democratic Services submitted a report that presented background papers to a key decision made by Executive Board, which had been Called In in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.

 

The decision had been called in for review by Councillors R Stephenson, B Anderson, C Anderson, N Buckley, N Harrington, M Dobson, O Newton, R Finnigan, W Dixon, W Kidger, S Golton.

 

The Scrutiny Board considered the following written information:

·  Copy of the completed Call In request form

·  Copy of the report of the Director of Children and Families to Executive Board on the Review of the Little Owls Nurseries which included:

o  Appendix 1 – Engagement Sessions, Compendium of Comments/Queries/Questions

o  Appendix 2 – Comments, Queries into the Little Owls Review Mailbox

o  Appendix 3 ECDI Impact Assessment

o  Minutes Extract of Executive Board – 19^th June 2024

 

The following were in attendance:

·  Councillor Ryan Stephenson – Lead Signatory

·  Councillor Helen Hayden – Executive Member for Children and Families

·  Julie Longworth – Director of Children and Families

·  Phil Evans – Chief Officer Transformation and Partnerships

·  Vicky Fuggles – Head of Early Help Services

·  Amanda Ashe – Children’s Centres and Early Help Lead

·  Rachael Davison – Change Manager

·  Kevin Shillito – Legal Officer

·  Nicole Walker – Head of Service – Legal

Witnesses

·  Hattie Hodgson-Crome, child at Hawksworth Wood

·  Kath Owen, child at Meanwood

·  Rosie Taylor, Child at Meanwood

·  Hannah Minks, child at Bramley

 

Councillor Stephenson addressed the Board as lead signatory to the Call In. He set out his grounds for requesting a call in, citing the nature of the consultation process, and the clarity of aims and desired outcomes and the lack of explanation of the options considered and details of the reasons for the decision.

 

Councillor Stephenson invited his witnesses to introduce themselves and provide the Scrutiny Board with brief details of their personal circumstances and their reasons for attending the Call-In meeting.

 

Councillor Stephenson raised the following concerns:

·  There was no obvious consultation, with no communication plan, and it was the opinion that the consultation had been rushed and not meaningful. 

·  It was noted that some sessions had been provided via Teams’, however, this had not been accessible for all families and was at a time when parents would be multi-tasking with family issues such as teatime and bedtime.

·  It was recognised that Councillor Hayden had only been in her executive role for four weeks and had not had time to meet with parents.

·  The Executive Board had not been presented with all the evidence and facts.

·  Future decisions on the review of further 12 Little Owls sites would be delegated to the Director of Children and Families without being brought back to Executive Board.

 

Witnesses addressed the Scrutiny Board highlighting the following concerns:

·  The consultation had not been meaningful.

·  Letters had been sent to parents via the nursery, but these had been in English, however, many of the families and children using the Little Owls Nurseries, English is not their first language.

·  At the time of the consultation a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) had not been available on the website, as it is now.

·  Parents on waiting lists for Little Owls Nurseries were not involved in the consultation process.

·  The staff at the Little Owls Nurseries are welcoming, well trained and supportive to both children and families and the nurseries have provision for children and parents who have special needs.

·  They had been unaware of the proposals to close 3 of the sites and were now concerned about a further review of another 12 sites.

·  It was acknowledged that the Council was facing financial challenges and if this was due to fees for the service parents would be willing to increase fees to save the service provision given by the Little Owls Nurseries.

 

Councillor Stephenson followed on from the witness’s address, highlighting the following points:

·  This Council has the ambition for a Child Friendly City, however, it is stilling looking to close its early years provision and was not looking at the future of those who are currently on the waiting lists and of those not born in the city.

·  The closure of the sites would impact on the private provision for early years education with parents being pushed into using private nurseries.

·  It was the view that the EDCI impact assessment had a flawed scoring mechanism as there are a number of children in the location of the Little Owls Nurseries who have special educational needs or disabilities, and their first language is not English.

·  The newly elected Government has set out in its Manifesto to pledge 100,000 new nursery places, and this Council may be shutting nurseries only to open more in the future. It was suggested that the review of a further 12 sites be delayed until the Government’s proposal is known.

·  It was suggested that Little Owls provision could be sited into the primary school settings where there are currently spare classrooms. This would free up sites for disposal and assist in utilising the spare classrooms of the council run primary schools and perhaps assist parents when choosing a primary school for their children. It was noted that where there is currently nursery provision in primary schools this is only for children over 3 years old and only during term time. Little Owls provides care for children under 2 years old and the care and support is there during school holidays.

·  The Little Owls Nurseries provide a high standard of care and support to some of the most vulnerable families in the city.  The standards of these nurseries are high, and the support and expertise of the staff was a valuable asset for the city.

 

The witnesses in summing up provided the following points:

·  The provision supplied by Little Owls is local to an area, not all families have cars.

·  There is a childcare crisis in this country at present and this is a Council which has the ambition to be a Child Friendly City.

·  Parents should be consulted in a timely and meaningful way.

·  Little Owls provide safeguarding support for those families who are vulnerable or in crisis.

·  It was recognised that there was an affordability consideration for Little Owls Nurseries and parents would be willing to increase fees to continue using the service of the Little Owls Nurseries.

·  Staff in the Little Owls Nurseries provide support to children and families who may need additional support and provision as they go forward in their education. This was not something that was provided within a private nursery setting.

·  The staff at Little Owls had not been involved in the decision-making process and were upset and felt undervalued.

 

It was Suggested that since the decision had been taken there had been no meaningful discussions, but freedom of information requests had been responded to. The campaign for Little Owls Nurseries has 400 followers on Facebook and 2,000 people have signed a petition.

 

Cllr Hayden was invited to address the Scrutiny Board and provided the following information:

·  Councillor Venner the previous Executive Member for Children and Families and the Director of Children and Families had offered to meet parents.

·  Throughout 14 years of austerity the Council has continued to keep the Little Owls Nurseries open which was rare for local authorities with not all the core cities providing this service.

·  The city is proud of the provision provided by our well-trained staff who are paid a real living wage.

·  The economy of the city is thriving, but the council is struggling to retain staff in the nurseries, as whilst the job is rewarding, it is stressful.

·  The Council has 24 nurseries which is more other Councils in the country. It was regretful and sad that the council has had to close 3 and is reviewing 12 others. However, the Council is facing dire financial challenges and the issue cannot wait until the new Labour Government gets going with its plans to address the issue, as the Council is losing money all the time.

·  The nurseries are unable to take on more children, as there are not enough staff. The staff already employed at the nurseries will move to other settings, where they would hopefully be with the children who have also moved, where nurseries have merged.

·  There are 12 nurseries currently being reviewed, there are no suggestions that these will be closed or privatised.

·  There were 15 engagement and consultation sessions to attend, and all feedback was collated and presented to the Executive Board. There is also a Frequently Asked Questions page on the website.

 

The Director of Children and Families was invited to address the Scrutiny Board and provided the following:

·  The parents who had attended the meeting were thanked for their attendance and it was noted that their comments were respected and valuable.

·  It was explained that officers need to work to ensure that the service works to a balanced budget, and this often means taking difficult decisions. Officers are passionate about their work with children and achieving the Child Friendly City ambition. Officers have dedicated hours of time to provide the evidence required for the review.

·  All the children affected by the closures were offered local authority settings. The Council does not have a responsibility or a duty to provide this service. The closure of the 3 settings was done with clear evidence.

·  The Council is committed to retaining 9 local authority settings and to support those with educational needs, with the provision for this better than in other core cities.

·  The review of the 12 settings will be clear and transparent and it was confirmed that there were no preconceived ideas about the outcome and due process would be followed.

·  It was suggested that to maintain local authority nursery provision through all Little Owls and for them all to be sufficient and sustainable there would need to be an increase in fees of 30%.

·  It was noted that over the summer period there was not enough staff to cover at the Little Owls nurseries and some may need to open later and close earlier.

·  The Officers had taken on board that the timing of the consultation sessions had not been the best and lessons had been learnt.

·  It was the responsibility of the local authority to ensure that they have a good, effective and sufficient service and provision for children, and they were working with partners to deliver this, and the Council was committed to a Child Friendly City.

 

Responses to questions and comments from the Scrutiny Board included:

 

·  The Scrutiny Board noted that the report to Executive Board had presented a series of queries, these had been responded to at the Executive Board meeting prior the decision being made.

·  Every family had been offered time with officers to discuss the proposals in the Little Owls settings, had a letter delivered to them either by Little Owls staff or by hand, and information was provided in different languages where requested.

·  The Members were of the view that there was a need for wide participation on the review of the 12 Little Owl settings.

·  Members thanked the parents for their experiences and for attending the meeting as it was important to get the feedback of staff and parents, and they acknowledged the strength of feeling on this issue.

·  It was the view of the Members that the review should also include those families on waiting lists for Little Owls, and that as many parents as possible were consulted with during the process and that various ways of engagement were used.

·  It was confirmed that there would be no compulsory redundancies.

·  Little Owls fees per day are currently £54.30, with a proposal (subject to approval) that in September they would rise 7% to £58.10, the Scrutiny Board noted that unlike other providers the fees included all food and nappies. It was suggested that the fees could increase by more, however, it was noted that the increase in fees would not be sufficient to keep all the Little Owls nurseries open, as there would still not be enough staff to run them.  Members noted that 1,800 children attended Little Owls.

 

The Chair informed the Scrutiny Board that the decision of the Board was several separate decisions, relating to the one issue. He had taken the advice of the Legal Officer present, and should the Members be so minded they could break down the components when making their decision on the options available to them.

 

Councillor Hayden’s summary included:

·  Thanking all in the meeting for the opportunity to speak on the Little Owls nurseries. The Council was committed and passionate about the service that is provided and was working hard to make sure Children in Leeds were given the best start in life.

·  She thanked the staff for the work that they do and recognised the stress that they were under. The Council would always fight for and protect the most vulnerable, especially children.

 

The Director of Children and Families in her summary included:

·  She recognised that this was an emotive subject, and it was about the children, but the unprecedented financial challenges do mean that the Council is having to make cuts to services, and some of those are for the most deprived children in our community. It was noted that this is not just in the Children and Families Directorate, but Council wide.

·  The staff working in the Children and Families Directorate are committed to ensure that Leeds is a Child Friendly City and that the Little Owls nurseries are sustainable and can remain open for holidays and have staff in them to provide sufficient childcare.

·  9 Little Owls setting would be retained, and due process would be used for the 12 settings under review.

 

Councillor Stephenson in summing up thanked officers for their answers and highlighted the following points:

·  Consultation on those 12 settings under review should be meaningful and include those on waiting lists and the information be brought back to Executive Board with all the evidence and feedback from parents.

·  He suggested that a letter be written to Government to ask about the timescales for the delivery of the 100,000 nursery places and seek clarity on what the Manifesto means for the city.

·  He suggested that the Board return the decision to Executive Board with all the evidence, and that any further decisions on the review of the 12 Little Owls settings be considered by Executive Board and not taken by the Director through delegated decision.

 

 

The meeting was adjourned for a comfort break at 15:55.