Purpose

To agree proposals following
the statutory consultation

Content

Approved
the following changes to the current delivery of
Children’s Centre services that were consulted on:
 

•   Four
centres will remain as core Family Hubs improving the join up with
provision for those over 5;

•   Five
centres will be used by partners including Schools, Nursery
Schools, Midwifery and Health Visiting to continue to meet with
families and supporting on areas such as infant feeding;

•   Nine
centres to be used to expand childcare provision to support the
expansion of free entitlement or used by services that supports
children with special educational needs and disabilities
(SEND);

•   Five
Centres to remain as Children’s Centres;

•   One
Children’s Centre is registered as part of Glyndon Community
Centre. It is proposed to remove the Children’s Centre but
keep the community centre open as normal.
 
Approved
the following enhancements to the proposal that have
been developed following feedback from residents via the public
consultation:
 

•   To explore
the accessibility of the 56 alternative delivery locations
suggested via the consultation and to incorporate these into future
delivery where appropriate accessibility criteria are met;

•   To work
with partners including Health Visitors and Midwives to maintain a
‘No Wrong Door’ approach whereby if a family presents
in need, they will be supported to get to the right place for
help;

•   To develop
a communications strategy for the new Children’s Centre
model, that will include both online and ‘off-line’
information and will include exploration of using parent volunteers
to promote activities;

•   To develop
communications to more effectively promote the take up of the free
entitlement to childcare with a particular focus on the expansion
of the 30-hour offer;

•   Subject to
any further Government guidance regarding Family Hubs, to seek to
utilise elements of the 25/26 Family Hubs funding to fund
activities and provision that will support the needs raised in the
consultation relating to speech, language and communication;

•   To
additionally support the Children’s Centre workforce through
the transition through working with Greenwich Local Labour and
Business (GLLaB) and Human Resources to
complement and enhance the support already offered to the workforce
through their employing organisations.
 
Delegated
authority to the Director of Children’s
Services in consultation with the Director of Resources and
Director of Legal Service to agree any required contractual
variations with current service providers.
 
Delegated
authority to the Director of Regeneration,
Skills and Enterprise in consultation
with the Director of Finance, Director of Legal Service and
Director of Children’s Services, to enter into concessionary
rent lease arrangements for those sites impacted through the
consultation (as set out in section 4.3) in order to enable
partners to continue to deliver from sites.