The Cabinet Member (Children and Young People) submitted a report which provided a summary of the outcomes of a consultation carried out between September and December 2014 regarding the proposals to develop an alternative model of delivery for Bury’s Children’s Centres. The report also detailed changes made to the original proposals as a result of the consultation.
The alternative services model will be delivered through 5 Children’s Centre hubs located in Bury East (Little Oaks), Bury West and North (Woodbank), Prestwich (Sedgley), Radcliffe (Coronation Road) and Whitefield (Besses). It is also proposed that there will be three spoke provisions linked to the hubs which will be located in Bury East (Redvales), Prestwich (Butterstile) and Radcliffe (Stepping Stones). It is intended that the spoke provision will help to meet the needs of the most deprived areas of Bury. There will also be an increasing number of Outreach Workers deployed to work within each hub area. Supervision of the Outreach Workers will be carried out by a small number of Senior Outreach Workers.
Each hub will provide families with universal and targeted provision to be delivered by all key partners.
The report also proposed that five of the remaining Children’s Centres will be converted to provide 2 year old nursery provision for the Borough’s most deprived children.
The Cabinet Member (Children and Young People) thanked everyone involved in the consultation process for the time they had given which had helped to produce a detailed and well informed final report and proposal.
Delegated decisions:
1. That approval be given to the full implementation of the proposals for Alternatives Services for Under 5s, as detailed in the report submitted.
2. That thanks to be given to everyone involved in the consultations process.
Reasons for the decision:
There is aneed to save £820,000 from the Children’s Services Budget 2015/2016. The savings will be achieved through moving the service to a targeted provision for the most vulnerable families.
Other options considered and rejected:
To reject the recommendation and examine other ways to achieve the required savings.
(At this point Councillor Connolly left the meeting room. Councillor Shori took the chair for the following item of business.)