Karen Buck MP Westminster North

Constituency Tel: 020 8968 7999 Fax: 020 8960 0150

BUCKK@parliament.uk

+ www.karenbuck.org.uk

January 26th

2015

Here’s my letter to Westminster Council Children’s Services regarding the Children’s Centres: Thanks very much for sending me a note on the Children’s Centre ‘re-focusing’. However I can't say that I found it very helpful as a guide to what is proposed, and therefore it is extremely difficult to respond to. Is it possible to have answers to the following questions, please? Finance * What savings are proposed from the Children's Centre budget in 2015/16 and for subsequent years if know? What do these represent as a % of the total budget? * As context, by how much has the Children's Centre budget reduced in each of the last 3 years? Service implications The note says 'savings will be made from more open services'. What are the actual and % changes envisaged in the numbers of children accessing each service (drop-in, outreach) at each centre- separately identified below. How are the savings to be achieved? Assuming these come from staff costs and the costs of opening the building, what are the FTE staff savings overall and, if possible, how do these relate to each service area and each centre? When the note says you will 'explore providing a more intensive parenting offer', does this mean you will be making such a provision? If so, to how many additional families/children, from when, where and at what cost?

As the intention is to target resources more closely on families in need, how will such families be identified when more open access services are reduced for this pre-school group? Will use be only amongst parents for whom there has been a social services referral? 2 year old nursery offer As Westminster is saying places will be provided in centres 'which aren’t always being fully used by families most in need', can you say How many additional places for 2 year olds are to be provided in 2015/2016 and 2016/17? What is the current shortfall in terms of places not being fully used? Who and where are the families who are not accessing this offer? What specific measures are to be taken to ensure that these places are taken in future? Is there any identified issue with working parents for whom the free offer is inconsistent with their working hours, and if so, how can this be resolved? Essendine The report says that 'all stay and play sessions will be replaced. How many children are currently accessing these sessions? The report says that parents have agreed to pay for the sessions. What will be the cost? Have parents been advised of this and an actual assessment been undertaken of demand if the arrangements change? Local councillors have referred to the school(s) picking up the provision? Has this been negotiated? What are the savings proposed? Hallfield How many fewer children are expected to access 'stay and play sessions'? What are the savings proposed? Paddington Green Are any savings proposed here, as the report does not suggest any service reductions?

Thanks very much Best wishes Karen

Here’s what Westminster Council are saying:

Refocusing the Children’s Centres in Westminster.

1. Introduction

The proposed refocusing of Children’s Centres in Westminster needs to be seen within the

context of the Early Help Strategy and a wider vision for early years services, which we have

termed the Best Start in Life. In summary, the vision is to create one integrated early years

pathway with universal, targeted and enhanced components; providing greater clarity for

parents about the early years service ‘offer’ , which would include bringing together the

Healthy Child Programme and the Early Years Foundation Stage. We are largely positioning

Children’s Centres as an integral part of the ‘targeted’ offer within this pathway.

2. Principles behind the re-shaping of the Children’s Centres

The key principles therefore behind the proposed refocusing of the Children’s Centres are:

To introduce the delivery of the free 2 year old early education places, for eligible families, within Children’s Centres as part of our strategy to reach more families;

To achieve greater integration between organisations so that we can identify need as early as possible and make it easier for parents to access coordinated health , childcare, education, training and employment services as outlined in the introduction;

To achieve savings across the service whilst improving outcomes for the children and families at risk of the poorest outcomes;

To preserve the services that are targeted and make savings from the more open access services whilst improving the identification of early need through better integrated systems.

3. The proposed changes

All current Children’s Centre sites to remain open but some will be used in new ways

and these changes are based on need and our desire to reach those children most at

risk of poor outcomes;

The targeted Children’s Centre services like family support delivered through

outreach, parenting and domestic violence support will be retained. For parenting

we will explore delivering a more intensive parenting offer to families most in need

of support as a part of an ‘enhanced’ pathway;

To increase free early education places for two-year-olds for eligible parents, by

providing places in our centres which aren’t always being fully used by the families

most in need of support or where take up of the existing services is variable.

A target date of April 2015 for changes to become operational (subject to detailed

transition planning)

3.1 Summary of centre based proposals

Name of Children’s Centre Proposed change

Proposed changes following the parental consultation to date (these have not been published to parents yet as consultation finishes on 26/1)

South Locality

Churchill Gardens (hub) No change No change

Marsham Street Reduced level of activities at the centre

We have now mapped staffing from April and we aim to maintain the same activity level except for one stay and play; we propose that childminders will deliver this and, if this is the case, there will be no change.

West End Reduced level of activities at the Centre

At Fitzrovia we propose to offer 3 sessions per week at the times families said that they preferred. A drop in will also continue at Soho Family Centre.

North-West Locality

Queens Park (hub) No change No change

Westbourne Current services remain but with timetable changes to allow for 2 year old early education places

Current services remain but with timetable changes to allow for 2 year old early education places

Harrow Road All stay and play sessions replaced with 2 year old early education places,

To proceed with offering the 2 year old early education places at Essendine but to offer a staff member to deliver one stay and play session a week within a community setting (we are exploring options). Parents had said they would pay or be involved in the running of any sessions that remain.

Bayswater Current services remain but with timetable changes to allow for 2 year old early education places.

Current services remain but with timetable changes to allow for 2 year old early education places.

Queensway (Hallfield) Reduction in centre based activities – currently 5 stay and play sessions a week.

Maintain 3 stay and play sessions a week at Hallfield.

North-East Locality

Church Street (Hub) No change No change

Paddington Green Current services remain but with timetable changes to allow for 2 year old early education places

Current services remain but with timetable changes to allow for 2 year old early education places

Maida Vale No change No change

Micky Star All stay and play sessions replaced with 2 year old early education places, except for the child health clinic

All stay and play sessions replaced with 2 year old early education places, except for the child health clinic

4. Consultation with parents

We have written to every family who has used our Childrens Centres in the last year to invite them to information events at centres to hear our proposals and have their say on the future of the service, as well as viewing the proposals online and completing our online survey. We have also promoted the consultation via printed materials in centres and other key locations, our website and e-newsletters as well as in our council magazine which goes to all homes in Westminster.