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Memorandum submitted by Daycare Trust
Daycare Trust is the national childcare charity, campaigning for quality affordable childcare for all and raising the voices of children, parents and carers. We welcome this opportunity to respond to the Committee's Inquiry and to explain our views on the importance and effectiveness of children's centres.
Summary
· We are only just seeing the impacts of the coordinated approach that children's centres have. We would welcome further research and monitoring of children's centres activities and outcomes so that their effectiveness can be monitored.
· Children's centres provide high quality services, including high quality early years education and care, which has benefits for families both today and in the future. Higher quality early years education and care is associated with the maintained sector and children's centre status.
· The involvement of parents in children's centres is key. Parent champions can be a useful model for reaching out to other parents.
· Children's centres often work in more disadvantaged areas, and therefore need to provide more services to families, leading to higher costs. Early years education and care in these areas are not well served by the childcare 'market' and need government intervention (ie funding and direct provision) to address the 'market imperfections'.
· There can be substantial cost savings overtime if investment is made in the early years, plus additional social benefits.
· Childcare staff are often higher qualified in children's centres, which contributes to higher quality provision.
· Partnership working, eg with health and Jobcentre plus, can be very effective, and is good at making links with those furthest from the job market. However this must be funded appropriately to avoid dilution of services.
1 Introduction
1.1 DT one of the orchestrators of children's centres back in 2001, and the vision was that each locality would have a centre which included a variety of services for children and parents, with the aims of: [1] · Meeting more of the needs of children and parents · Making services currently restricted to deprived neighbourhoods or low income families available to all who need them · Providing more services to families in need in a non-stigmatised environment to make more effective use of current services, and · To make daycare services at present only affordable by the well off affordable by all who need them. These worthwhile aims of children's centres have not changed, nor have they gone away. Furthermore, the Inter-Departmental Childcare Review found in 2002 that "there are significant pay-offs in offering children, parents and communities health, family support, childcare and early education in an integrated way".[2]
2 How models of Children's Centres have developed as the programme spreads from the most deprived neighbourhoods
2.1 We welcome the roll-out of children's centres to all communities, as this brings services within the reach of all families (and often there can be pockets of deprivation within very affluent areas) and helps to remove any stigma from accessing services. However, we would not want the services to the most disadvantaged communities to be diluted. We believe it is right that there are differentiated levels of services in different areas, as some areas will need a greater number and intensity of service, and therefore there will need to be additional funding in deprived areas.
2.2 Now that children's centres are opening in every locality, and there is a range of different services offered, we would welcome further monitoring information from the DCSF to monitor what services the children's centres are offering throughout the country. This would support the programme of research into Sure Start and help the government and others to understand the effectiveness and outcomes from children's centres and enable the sharing of good practice. We would also welcome information from local authorities, as part of their market manager role, about why they have decided not to operate childcare in specific children's centres, eg because of a nearby nursery, so we can assess whether more children's centres should be offering childcare.
2.3 Ofsted also recommends that there should be an improvement in recording and analysing of data, in order to investigate their current and long-term impact on children and families.[3]
2.4 We are only just seeing the impacts of the coordinated approach that children's centres have. It is important to recognise that it takes time to build links into communities, especially those that have been disconnected from government services and have a mistrust of authority figures. Outreach will continue to be vital.
3.1 Children's centres offer a huge range of services, which are vital to many children and families. Services include health visitor clinics, midwifery clinics, toy libraries, stay and play sessions, childcare, parenting support, breastfeeding support, adult literacy, links with Jobcentre plus, information about Families Information Services, SEN provision, childminder networks, and links to primary schools.
3.2 For example, in Medway children's centre they have Little Diggers, a healthy eating cafe where parents and children can bond as they learn how to grow, cook, and eat fresh fruits and vegetables. This interactive experience teaches children how food grows and encourages both parents and children to try new food.
3.3 Parents really appreciate the ability to access services in one location - as Ofsted found, "parents from all social backgrounds strongly preferred a range of professional support and guidance under one roof and reported clear gains in their confidence and parenting skills"[4]
3.4 The involvement of parents in children's centres is key. This enables parents to benefit from the centre's services, enforce their role as children's first educators, learn from practitioners, and suggest any necessary changes. Ofsted reported that Children from disadvantaged families gained significantly from their parents' communication with children's centres.[5] Many children's centres are engaging well with parents. For example, All Saint's Children's Centre in Medway has founded a parent representative group called ASPIRE (All Saints Parents Investing in Real Energy). It bids for funds, which can provide access to numerous opportunities. One of their parent volunteers, Emma, states "As a reception volunteer, I can tell parents about the fantastic range of services at the centre because I know firsthand what's available, because I'm a parent who uses the centre."
3.5 One way in which children's centres are particularly effective is with regard to the quality of their early years education and care. The Millennium Cohort study found that the maintained sector delivered higher quality, as did centres with children's centre status.[6] This is incredibly important when delivering childcare and early years to children from disadvantaged backgrounds, as it is only high quality provision that improves outcomes, particularly for children under the age of three.
3.6 In addition to higher quality early years education and care, the National evaluation of Sure Start has also found that Sure Start had benefits in terms of parenting, social development, immunisation rates and access to child- and family-related services.[7]
3.6 Outreach is key to the success of children's centres, as DCSF research into the two year old pilot found. It is essential that children's centres engage professionals who are already working with families (eg health visitors and social services) and have dedicated outreach workers who are able to meet families in their homes or in neutral surroundings, especially for those that have a mistrust of government. 3.7 Word of mouth is also an important method of outreach: Daycare Trust has recently completed a project looking at the role parent champions can play in informing and encouraging their peers in the use of childcare (and the findings are equally valid for the use of children's centres). Parent Champions are parents who have experience of using childcare and who act as advocates and peer advisers in their community - particularly where the use of formal childcare is not widespread - to help other parents to find out about and take up formal childcare and financial help to pay for it. A great deal of research - from quantitative DCSF-commissioned surveys to Daycare Trust's own current qualitative study entitled 'Listening to Parents' - shows that parents use other parents as a key source of information about culturally appropriate and quality childcare, as well as types of benefits and services available. The Parent Champion model was very successful and an invaluable resource to provide information and support to parents. A Daycare Trust toolkit is now available from the DCSF to enable local authorities to implement their own scheme.[8]
4.1 At the outset of the Sure Start/children's centre programme, it was recognised that costs would be front-loaded in order to make savings in the long run. As Daycare Trust's policy paper said in 2001, 'As well as cost savings, it is expected that there will be benefits in the form of improvements in children's learning and social development, lower rates of family breakdown, higher uptake of education and employment opportunities by parents, and later on better employment prospects for the children themselves, lower involvement in crime and so on.'[9]
4.2 The recent research by Action for
Children and the New Economics Foundation identified that "The cost to the
4.3 It is important to note that provision of both early years education and care, and other family services in deprived areas is more expensive, both because these families will need access to more services (eg a greater number of speech and language therapists, health visitors etc) and the childcare 'market' does often not function effectively in these areas (with significantly less private sector provision, and a decline in the number of privately operated settings in deprived areas). In these areas, the government has played a considerable role in shaping provision of early years education and care and it is therefore more flexible, operating longer hours and providing more holiday cover.[11]
5.1 Given the range of professionals working together within children's centres, there can be difficulties with different protocols, supervision arrangements, governance, IT systems and lines of accountability. Therefore children's centres need excellent leadership to manage these issues.
5.2 Qualification levels of childcare staff are often higher in children's centres, hence these childcare settings are able to offer a higher standard of provision. For example, in 2008, 14% of staff in children's centres had at least a Level 6 qualification, compared to 4% in full daycare overall. 83% of staff held at least a Level 3 qualification, compared to 75% in full daycare settings.
6.1 It is obviously essential that children's centres work well with other partners and services. Engaging with health services is a vital way to engage with families. A large number of children's centres now offer health visitor clinics and host midwife teams, enabling parents and prospective parents to engage with the services of the children's centre early on. However, in order to facilitate partnership working there must be sufficient funding from the different players involved, such as DH and DWP, as well as from the DCSF.
6.2 The Sure Start evaluation found that many of the most successful children's centres were those that were co-located with health services. This enables more families to access the full range of services offered by the children's centre.
6.3 If there is not sufficient funding, the educative elements of children's centres, essential for improving children's outcomes, may suffer. For example, the Millennium Cohort Study found that although children's centres were linked with higher quality, those linked to the Sure Start Local Programmes demonstrated lower quality provision in language and reasoning, literacy and maths. Centres offering child and family health services were of significantly lower quality provision in a number of areas including personal care, literacy and maths. The researchers speculate that this could be because the breadth of services offered through the Sure Start Local Programmes diluted the impact of child-focused provision. There also needs to be sufficient space in children's centre buildings for health visitors and others to work effectively.
6.4 With regard to the co-location of Jobcentre Plus provision, research by the DWP indicates that amongst parents [12]there was nearly a unanimous preference to access Jobcentre Plus in Children's Centres as opposed to a Jobcentre Plus office, because of more supportive service and a less threatening atmosphere. It also gave opportunities to increase involvement in rural communities. With regard to outcomes, the research found that parents were encouraged to take courses in the centres (often with childcare available onsite) and although hard results in terms of numbers of parents moved into work were limited, the report notes that "There has to be recognition that Jobcentre Plus activities in Children's Centres won't always bring about instant results, but will be planting seeds for the future." This is essential for parents who are further away from the job market. The DWP research also found that a lack of resources and time could be a barrier to success.
6.5 Therefore, it is clearly helpful to families to have a wide range of services accessed in one location, but there must be sufficient resources to make this happen.
7.1 DCSF research with parents about children's centres found that 78% of parents were aware of their local children's centre and 45% had used or attended their centre.[13] There was no evidence from the survey that particular groups of parents were either monopolising services, or being excluded from them.
7.2 One of the key benefits of children's centres are that they offer services in a non-stigmatising way, but also are able to target their services to disadvantaged families where necessary. This is particularly the case for early years education and care . For children from 'at-risk' families, it is essential that the childcare they attend is of high quality, in order to improve their educational and behavioural outcomes. This childcare would only normally be affordable by parents on middle or high incomes, but children's centres are able to offer childcare at reduced rates where needed, because of the funding they receive from central government. For example, the childcare provision at Randolph Beresford Early Years Centre is of very high quality. Thanks to its maintained status, the centre is able to prioritise children from disadvantaged backgrounds, through referrals from Social Services, thereby ensuring that they have a high quality early years experience which stands them in excellent stead for the future.
October 2009 [1] Holterman, S. (2001) Children's centres: exploring the costs and delivery of a national scheme, Daycare Trust [2] Prime Minister's Strategy Unit (2002) The inter-departmental childcare review: Delivering for children and families [3] Ofsted (2009) The impact of integrated services on children and their families in Sure Start children's centres Ofsted [4] Ibid. [5] Ibid. [6] Mathers et al (2007) Quality of childcare settings in the Millennium Cohort Study, DfES Research report SSU/2007/FR/025 [7] National Evaluation of Sure Start Research Team (2008) The Impact of Sure Start Local Programmes on Three Year Olds and their Families. DfES [8] Daycare Trust (2009) Report on Parent Champions for Childcare Pilot Schemes [9] Holtermann, S. (2001) Children's centres: exploring the costs and delivery of a national scheme. Daycare Trust [10] http://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/uploads/media/36/7857.pdf [11] Butt, S., Goddard, K., La Valle, I. & Hill, M (2007) Childcare Nation? Progress on the childcare strategy and priorities for the future. Daycare Trust [12] Dench, S., Aston, J., James., Foster., R Perceived Effects of Jobcentre Plus Involvement in Children's Centres DWP Research Report 485 [13] TNS Social (2009) Sure Start Children's Centres Survey of Parents, DCSF research report RR083 |