Agenda item

To receive a report from the Head of Democratic Services and Director of Children and Families presenting the progress made in responding to the recommendations arising from the Scrutiny Board’s earlier inquiry into Children’s Centres.

The report of the Head of Democratic Services and Director of Children and Families set out the progress made in responding to the recommendations arising from the earlier Scrutiny Inquiry into Children’s Centres.

The following were in attendance for this item:

·  Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Executive Member for Learning, Skills and Employment

·  Councillor Fiona Venner, Executive Member for Children and Families

·  Phil Mellen, Deputy Director for Learning

·  Andrea Richardson, Head of Service for Learning for Life

In consideration of the report, the status of each recommendation was agreed as follows:

Recommendation 1 – Achieved

Recommendation 2 – Not fully implemented (Progress made acceptable. Continue monitoring.)

Recommendation 3 – Not fully implemented (Progress made acceptable. Continue monitoring.)

Recommendation 4 – Achieved

Recommendation 5 – Not fully implemented (Progress made acceptable. Continue monitoring.)

Recommendation 6 – Achieved

Recommendation 7 – Not fully implemented (Progress made acceptable. Continue monitoring.)

Recommendation 8 – Achieved

Recommendation 9 – Not fully implemented (Progress made acceptable. Continue monitoring.)

The following key points were also raised during consideration of this item:

·  Recommendation 1 – whilst the Board agreed to close out this recommendation, Members had highlighted the potential benefits of having Early Years representation on Children Centre Advisory Boards too. It was agreed that this would therefore be looked at.

·  Recommendation 2 – whilst acknowledging the challenge with the way each GP Surgery operates independently, the Board noted the communication benefits of having specific health visitors and midwifery contacts for every surgery. Moving forward, it was acknowledged that there would be ongoing discussions with the Council’s new Director of Public Health in terms of the future direction of travel.

·  Recommendation 4 – Whilst welcoming the increase in enquiries and engagement through the use of digital channels, Members were assured that posters and leaflets were still being used too.  The Board was informed that mechanisms are in place to continue monitoring usage and that work was also being undertaken to review the capacity needs for each centre to facilitate their own web-site.

·  Recommendation 5 – The Board discussed the processes in place for assessing language development in early year children and also acknowledged that the 3 As Strategy has driven a clear focus on early language and literacy in the early years too.

·  Recommendation 8 – in response to a query regarding the sustainability of Children Centre buildings and maintenance, the Head of Service for Learning for Life reported that there had been strong pro-active focus over the last 18 months by Childrens Service Asset Management to improve children’s centre buildings.  Linked to this, it was also noted that 20 centres are currently managed and governed by schools.

·  Recommendation 9 – Linked to future tracking reports, the Board agreed to maintain a watching briefing regarding the financial sustainability of Children’s Centres.

The Chair requested that a further tracking report be brought back to the Board during October/November 2020 and thanked the officers in attendance for their contributions.

RESOLVED –

a)  That the contents of the report be noted;

b)  That the status of recommendations as set out above, be agreed;

c)  That a further tracking report be brought back to the Scrutiny Board during October/November 2020.