NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL

 

Executive Members

Date of meeting:

20 August 2024

Title of report:

Consultation on de-registration of Children’s Centres

Type of report:

Delete as required

Decision

Is this presented in advance of an Executive Member decision?

Yes

Implications
 Delete as appropriate

Financial/Community/Legal

Recommendation:

 

To agree to go out to public consultation to de-register the remaining 18 designated Children’s Centres.

 

 

Appendices:

To be attached

Appendix 1 – EIA

Report originator and contact details:

Barbara Merrygold

Head of Early Help

Presenting officer:

If not the originator

Barbara Merrygold

 

1      PURPOSE OF REPORT

 

1.1      To seek approval to consult on the de-registration of the 18 identified designated Children’s Centres.

 

1.2      To enable greater flexibility in the future use of buildings to enable more efficient use.

 

 

2      BACKGROUND

 

2.1      Statutory guidance from the Department for Education states that any building currently registered as a designated Children’s Centres will need to be de-registered with the DfE following the Sure Start Children’s Centre Statutory guidance. The guidance recommends consultation with stakeholders prior to any change.

Sure Start children’s centres statutory guidance (publishing.service.gov.uk)

 

2.2      Prior to 2015 our Children and Families Service Early Help delivered sessions from a significant number of premises; however, since 2015 the use of some of these buildings had significantly reduced.  This further reduced following the C&F restructure in March 2019.

 

2.3      In 2015 following a service review the Children and Families Service Early Help moved away from a 0–5-year model of delivery, with all children’s centres moving to a 0-19 service model of delivery and Children’s Centres becoming known as Children and Families Hubs.    

 

2.4      In March 2019, as part of a service review Children and Families Service was committed to co-locating Early Help and Safeguarding teams where possible, to improve communications, share best practice and provide joined-up services for families. Over this period, there has been a review of all NYC properties (formally NYCC) and leased space across the county enabling greater co-location of staff including Children and Families Early Help Service and Safeguarding Teams.

 

2.5      Over the last four years, during and following the pandemic, Early Help redesigned the delivery of the activities to support children and their families moving to a blended approach of virtual and face to face activities. This has enabled the delivery of a countywide virtual activities which families are able to access from their home reducing the need for the same number of premises.

 

2.6      Within North Yorkshire there are 18 remaining designated Children’s Centres.  Of these 17 received Sure Start as a capital investment.  

 

3      Proposal

 

3.1      To undertake a public consultation on the de-registration of all Childrens Centres within North Yorkshire

 

3.2      The table on page 3 illustrates the location of the building, designation status and the amount of capital investment The notes section identifies any relevant information in relation to the building.

 

Children's Centre

Sure Start Funding (£)

Notes

Filey Sure Start Children’s Centre

750,000

Located on Filey infant School site A private day Nursey is co-located within the building.

Whitby & District Sure Start Children's Centre

311,236

Located on Stakesby CP School Site

Briercliffe Sure Start Children's Centre

1,050,000

Located on Barrowcliffe School site costs include Garage and ventilation  

Friarage Sure Start Children's Centre  

423,009

Located on Friarage CP school site

Thirsk & Sowerby Sure Start Children's Centre

773,168

Located on Thirsk CP school site

Northallerton Sure Start Children's Centre -

496,540

Located on Alverton CP school site

Carnagill Sure Start Children's Centre

528,261

Located on Carnagill CP school site

Colburn & Le Cateau Sure Start Children's Centre

435,000

 Adjoining a public library

Selby North Sure Start Children's Centre

104,000

Located on Selby CP school site - Workplace costs include those for the Children's Centre & The Cabin (Adult Learning) - can't fully split

Selby South Sure Start Children's Centre  

200,000

Located on Barwick Parade CP school site.

Sherburn and Tadcaster Sure Start Children's Centre -

0

Located within Sherburn Library Base

Brotherton Sure Start Children's Centre  

838,011

Private day nursery co-located within the building.

Central Ryedale Sure Start Children's Centre  

494,389

Norton CP school site

North Craven Sure Start Children's Centre  

75,000

Hellifield CP school site

Workplace costs include those for the Children's Centre & Settle Resources Centre - can't fully split

Skipton Sure Start Children's Centre

2,858,135

Located within Skipton CP school Brougham street - Private Nursery also co-located on site  

Harrogate Bilton Sure Start Children's Centre  

330,040

Located on Woodfield CP School Base

Harrogate Central Sure Start Children's Centre

1,764,244

Located on Saltersgate CP School Base

Knaresborough Sure Start Children's Centre

803,000

Workplace costs include those for the Children's Centre & rest of the Manor Road site - can't fully split

 

 

4      FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

 

4.1      A number of children’s centres received Sure Start funding as a capital investment, as highlighted in the table above.  As part of this process the DfE could request financial clawback on the Sure Start Capital funding to a maximum total of £12,234,032 - see risk section below

 

 

5      LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

 

5.1      There is a duty to consult on any changes to Designated Children’s Centres. Statutory guidance from the Department for Education means that recipients must have regard to it when carrying out duties relating to children’s centres under the Childcare Act 2006.  Any building currently registered as a designated children’s centres will need to be de-registered with the DfE following the de-registration guidance.

Sure Start children’s centres statutory guidance (publishing.service.gov.uk)

 

5.2      The guidance recommends consultation with stakeholders prior to any change. The consultation will explain how the local authority will continue to meet the needs of families with children under five whilst de-registering the designated centres.

 

6      IMPACT ON OTHER SERVICES/ORGANISATIONS              

 

6.1      There are no identified detrimental impacts on other services or organisations.

 

7      RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS

 

7.1      There is a potential risk (assessed as low) that the Department for Education may request a funding clawback on Sure Start capital investment equating to a maximum amount of £12,234,032. All these building have been open over a period of more than 10 years therefore if clawback is requested this would be at a decreasing level due to period each individual building has been open.  

 

7.2      Between 2014 and 2016, NYC (formally NYC) de-registered and closed 13 Children’s Centres with a total Sure Start capital investment of £3,643,140 and a further £1,317,146 in 2023 of which there has been no previous financial clawback.

 

8      HUMAN RESOURCES IMPLICATIONS            

 

8.1      There are no identified Human Resource implications.

 

9      TIMESCALES

 

9.1      Proposed timescales

Action

Date

Desired Outcome

Responsible

Paper To CYPLT

04/07/2024

CYPLT approval

Barbara Merrygold

Paper to Executive Members

20/08/2024

Executive Members approval for consultation

Stuart Carlton/Barbara Merrygold

Preparation of online consultation document

04/08/2024 – 27/08/2024

DPIA completed and consultation questions approved prior to publication date

Barbara Merrygold/Data Governance

Publication of online consultation documents.  

27/08/2024

28-day consultation

Barbara Merrygold

Consultation closes

24/09/2024

Follow up on any queries

Barbara Merrygold

Prepare consultation report for board

24/09/2024

 

Barbara Merrygold

Report to CYPLT -recommendations from consultation

10/10/2024

Agree recommendation

Barbara Merrygold

Report to Executive Members  

15/10/2024

Approval of recommendations from consultation

Barbara Merrygold

DfE notified of outcome

16/10/2024

De-registration forms submitted to DFE

Barbara Merrygold

 

10    EQUALITIES IMPLICATIONS   

                         

10.1    Over the last five years, during and following the pandemic, Early Help redesigned the delivery of activities to support children and their families moving to a blended approach of virtual and face to face activities. This has enabled the delivery of countywide virtual activities which families can access from their home, reducing the need for buildings to be used in the same way. This has removed any impact on protected characteristics as the model has created greater access to the service.

 

10.2    An Equalities Impact Assessment had been undertaken prior to consultation and is attached as (Appendices 1).

 

 

11    REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

 

11.1    Children and Families service no longer offer a specific 0-5 service delivery model moving to a 0-19 service delivery model in 2025.

 

11.2    De-registration of the Children’s Centres will allow much greater flexibility for future use of the spaces, increasing efficiencies which could lead to future savings.

 

 

12    RECOMMENDATION

 

12.1    To give approval to consult on the de-registration of all the designated Children’s Centres.

 

 

 

Report Author – Barbara Merrygold

Presenter of report – Barbara Merrygold

 

Appendices 1