Agenda item

To consider the report of the Director of Children and Families which provides an update following the decisions taken by Executive Board in June 2024 as part of the Little Owls Nurseries Review. Following on from this, the report also presents the outcomes from the ‘market sounding exercise’ undertaken with regard to a further twelve settings and provides recommendations regarding proposed next steps.

Further to Minute No. 7, 19 June 2024 and Minute No. 22, 24 July 2024, the Director of Children and Families submitted a report which provided an update on the withdrawal of service from three Little Owls settings and on the ‘market sounding exercise’ undertaken in relation to a further twelve settings, as previously approved by Executive Board. In addition, the report provided recommendations to Executive Board regarding proposed next steps in relation to those further twelve settings.

The Executive Member introduced the report, highlighting that in response to the financial challenges faced and as part of the review undertaken in relation to the Little Owls Nurseries, Executive Board had previously resolved to undertake a market sounding exercise in relation to the future of those twelve Little Owls nursery settings referenced within the report. The Executive Member provided an update on the work undertaken to date on this exercise together with details of the proposals regarding the future of those settings.  As part of any next steps, assurance was provided that engagement would continue with parents and carers, and that actions would be taken to ensure that any new providers continued to deliver a number of issues which had been identified as key by parents and carers during the engagement process. Such matters would be considered on a setting-by-setting basis, and if it was deemed that those critical needs were not met in a specific setting, it was noted that the default position would be for the Council to continue as the provider.

A Member raised a specific enquiry and concern regarding the extent to which child poverty was being taken into consideration as part of the proposals. In response, the Board was provided with assurance that the issue of child poverty remained a key concern in Leeds. It was also noted that whilst the appended Equality Impact Assessment took a broader view on such matters given that the submitted report invited the Board to agree the principle of a series of changes, the bespoke and localised discussions which would take place with potential providers moving forward would allow issues such as child poverty to be considered in detail. However, it was reiterated that the default position would be for the Council to continue as the provider, should it be deemed that any potential provision arrangements were not suitable for a specific setting.

Clarification was provided to the Board that the Local Authority’s statutory duty in this case was to ensure sufficiency of childcare provision, with it being noted that as part of the proposals, Leeds would retain at least nine directly delivered nurseries, which was more than any other comparator city and significantly beyond the Council’s statutory duty, reflecting the commitment to early years provision in Leeds.

The Board discussed the financial basis on which the review had been undertaken and the proposals being made. Members also discussed the issue of daily fee levels, with the Board receiving further information on the process by which appropriate consideration would be given to such matters, as part of the individual discussions with any potential providers. Responding to a specific enquiry regarding potential fee levels which had been identified as part of the expression of interest exercise, it was undertaken that further detail could be provided to the Member in question, if required.

A Member raised a concern regarding the Call In status of the report, as they felt that the submitted report should be eligible for Call In and recommended that the status of the report should be changed so as to be eligible for Call In. In response, it was confirmed that the report was not eligible for Call In as the matter had already been through the Call In process.

RESOLVED –

(a)  That the activity undertaken to withdraw from service provision at three settings, as agreed by Executive Board in June 2024, be noted;

(b)  That the work undertaken to date in relation to the agreed ‘market sounding exercise’ regarding the following settings, be noted:-

(c)  That the recommendations set out for each of those settings detailed in resolution (b) (above), be agreed, as set out below:-

(ci)  That the overarching proposal, be agreed, that subject to a successful outcome of detailed discussion with schools and alternative providers, none of the twelve settings identified in resolution (b) will be retained by Leeds City Council for direct delivery. In the event that those detailed discussions do not progress to a satisfactory conclusion, the Council’s default position will be that settings are retained by the Council and directly delivered;

(cii)  That the recommendation to engage in detailed conversations with neighbouring schools around their interest in operating Little Owls nurseries at St Mary’s Hunslet, Parklands, Hawksworth Wood, Quarry Mount, be agreed, and if required, agreement be given to a procurement process and other statutory consultation processes with the individual neighbouring schools;

(ciii)  That the recommendation to enter a formal procurement process with alternative providers for the future provision at the following settings: Shepherds Lane, City and Holbeck, Hunslet Rylestone, Rothwell, Meanwood, Bramley, Osmondthorpe and Burley Park, be agreed;

(d)  That it be noted that the Director for Children and Families has delegated authority to make the operational decision to move forward with individual providers for the settings set out in resolution (ciii) above.

(As referenced within paragraph 33 of the submitted report, the resolutions above are not eligible for Call In, as they are a direct consequence of implementing a previous key decision on such matters which had been the subject of a previous Call In)

(Under the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 16.5, Councillor A Lamb required it to be recorded that he voted against the decisions referred to within this minute)