Issue - meetings

Recommendation:

That the Executive approve de-registration and closure of the five named centres, as listed in paragraph 1.1 of the report

Considered – A report of the Corporate Director – Children and Young People’s Service providing a summary of the consultation response on a proposal to close five designated Children’s Centres and seeking approval to de-register and close those Children’s Centres.

Councillor Janet Sanderson introduced the report and drew attention to an error in paragraph 1.1 of the report where Nidderdale had incorrectly been listed twice and Eastfield omitted.  She also drew attention to the consultation responses and noted there no responses relating to three of the Centres – Kirbymoorside, Eastfield or Wensleydale, and of the sixteen responses received, only three were not supportive of the proposals.

It was noted the proposal was about property rationalisation as part of the CYPS savings plan and attention was drawn to the potential savings at paragraph 6.1 of the report.

Councillor Andrew Murday spoke about the Nidderdale Centre at St Cuthbert’s School in Pateley Bridge which was not currently in use and nor would the school find any future use for it. He questioned the costs associated with delivering the service through domiciliary visits and suggested it might prove less useful in identifying other issues such as domestic abuse.  He drew attention to the services provided by Nidderdale Plus and suggested the use of the facility would enable an extension of their services and therefore asked that it not be de-designated.

In response Stuart Carlton, Corporate Director – Children and Young People’s Service confirmed that de-designation was a technical requirement of the primary legislation still in place in regard to Children’s Centres, even though other elements of the legislation had since been removed, such as Ofsted inspections.  Once de-designated the Centres would no longer be recognised as Children’s Centres on the DfE’s database.  However that would not prevent the buildings from being used for similar purposes in the future and welcomed future discussions with interested stakeholders.

Councillor Michael Harrison recognised it was a technical event that would not prevent costed plans coming forward.

Having considered the report and the discussions at the meeting, the Executive

Resolved – That the five named Children’s Centres be de-registered and closed.