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Memorandum submitted by Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council
This report covers
o The context and model of Childrens Centres in Knowsley, including the range of services provided o Aspects of performance management, including finances. These have been subject to considerable attention, and are significantly improved in response to need. o Detail of the management and governance of the service o Discussion of childcare provision, sustainability, and non-cost benefits of importance to service outcomes for children through their early years.
1. Context
1.1 Model of Provision in Knowsley
There are 15 Childrens Centres in Knowsley, all but one of which are based on school sites. These centres are managed on an area model, which fits with geo-political boundaries in Knowsley, and there is a progressive movement towards developing services through our area model. It is anticipated that Childrens Centres and the new Centres for learning will provide "hubs" for services that are commissioned and delivered according to need.
The size of centres are variable, some are provided within decommissioned space within primary schools, some are purpose built. There is still capital development planned within future phases, with 2 centres being developed on sites within the borough.Knowsley has been successful in bidding for Co-Location funding to support development of a site which will allow fully integrated and inclusive services to children and families, and offers enormous potential to improve outcomes including community cohesion within the area in question.
Of six areas, each area has at least 2, but often 3 Childrens Centres, These are mainly located in areas of high deprivation. Two centres are intended to reach areas of lesser deprivation. We are clear that provision in Knowsley satisfies the sufficiency requirement in terms of our child population. Equally, it is appropriate that centres are sited in areas of high need, in order to be effective in delivering to those populations that have the greatest need for support.
Each area is managed by one Childrens Centre Area Manager and staffed by an area team, but with dedicated childcare staff from the Child Care provider This effectively reduces both management and staffing overheads as costs are shared between two or three centres. All centres are managed by the Local Authority.
Each site also offers a range of community outreach, health, education and learning, employment, family learning and family support activities. These will be particular to the needs of local communities, and the offer will vary accordingly by centre.
These are both planned and delivered through local partnership arrangements.
Later paragraphs of this report will address improvements that have been achieved in respect of measuring the effectiveness of services. This is through deployment of both an increasingly commissioned approach to service delivery, coupled with improved processes for performance management.
1.3 The authority has refined processes for identification of need, business planning and performance management, and this has been replicated at the operational level within Childrens Centres. From this, it is clear that there are some gaps in delivery, and we continue to need to reach into those communities where vulnerable children are less likely to achieve the required outcomes.
Amongst varied approaches to this issue, we would draw attention to pilot activity that is being developed in response to child poverty issues. We have succeeded in securing significant external funding. The purpose of which is to pilot the Child Development Grant, and the Two Year Old Child Care places.
Clearly it is not possible to measure the effectiveness of this yet, as they were only initiated recently. Evaluation processes are in place to measure the impact of this innovation. Both of these initiatives are based on tested interventions that have been successful elsewhere, therefore, we can feel optimistic that these are likely to be effective.
It is important to note that the local approach to these pilots is to ensure that they are closely managed and support outcomes that services and initiatives through Childrens Centres and Schools are intended to deliver.
2.1 What improvements in financial capability have been made in your authority's centres?
The allocation of local authority budgets for service delivery is on an area basis which may have two or three Children Centres. The area budget is based on a needs driven formula and takes into account the number of children 0-5 years, weighted by deprivation levels. The formula has become more sophisticated over the years as the data has been updated and subject to more robust analysis.
The allocation of centre budgets for day to day running costs is now based on previous years' actual spend, rather than estimated spend which was the position prior to such financial trend information being available. This allows for differences in the size of centres and the disparity in associated running costs to be taken into account.
2.2 Budget monitoring is undertaken monthly and quarterly budget challenge meetings are in place. A regular financial report to strategic management provides both an overview of individual centres and areas and provides a comparison in financial management and costs between centres and areas.
2.3 Needs led commissioning is supported by a central commissioning team which was developed to achieve economy of scale, and to ensure robust arrangements are in place for effective deployment of budget resources. There are strategic commissioning processes in place to ensure that any commissioning decisions are appropriate to priorities identified within the Childrens Plan.
2.4 The service has recently supported the survey undertaken by the National Audit Office, to support this Inquiry. It proved challenging to describe the variety of approaches within the framework provided, although we did our best to complete the task. This work re-affirmed some of the ongoing tensions in evaluating the effectiveness of early intervention services, especially the outcomes of integrated services. This is especially the case in areas where there is long standing, and high level need, such as Knowsley. It is likely to take some time for services to be able to evidence sustained improvement and impact. Some Childrens Centres have only recently opened, and activity reflects this.
On the whole, at this stage improvement in performance in incremental, although qualitative feedback indicates that those families who use services, experience a high level of satisfaction. This is especially true of parenting support.
Having completed the survey, we would suggest that more work is required to support centres in defining meaningful unit costs in an integrated environment, in which no single partner can be seen to make a unique contribution.
(Details of activity to which we have referred, can be provided.)
3.1 How financially secure is childcare provision now?
Childcare provision in Children's Centres was intended to be the sustainability arm of the Children's Centre, however securing, maintaining and increasing occupancy rates in childcare settings in areas of high deprivation is a challenge. In addition the current economic downturn has also had an impact on take up of childcare as jobs are lost or working hours reduced.
3.2 Assisted childcare can be provided as part of a family support plan and an agreed number of full time childcare places are purchased from settings, which also supports the sustainability of settings as income for these places is guaranteed on a yearly basis. Provision of support will be based on assessment using the common assessment (CAF)
3.3 Initiatives such as the 2 year old pilot, and Job Centre plus grants will support the uptake of childcare places and increase income streams for the settings.
3.4 The PVI sector is the provider of all childcare in Children's Centres in Knowsley and the Local Authority supports the sector in business planning processes.
3.5 It is important to note that the childcare provision contributes to a number of important outcomes, and whilst cost effectiveness is important, there are other relevant issues to consider.
In Knowsley, there have and continue to be challenges in relation to school attainment and achievement. The quality of childcare provision is also crucial. Good provision will enhance child development, and safeguard children. It will also support families. This bears some emphasis. Excellent support throughout the early years is of significant importance in securing future healthy development.
In an area of high need and poverty, such as Knowsley, the sustainability of provision is likely to be a challenge, especially now. However, we need to be mindful of the benefits of child care provision, to a broader population than working parents. Whilst the authority on one hand needs to encourage sustainability, with a mind to the sufficiency requirements, it also should sustain provision where it will have a positive impact on vulnerable children, or parents who would benefit in terms of accessing support, training or employment through Childrens Centres. Clearly this could be a substantial cost pressure in the short term, but appropriately used as part of a support package to families, can provide a vital safety net.
One of our priorities is to develop high quality childcare on all childrens centre sites, that are part of the centre offer in a meaningful way. It is likely that the provision of childcare will also support families to access other provision on site. Through the Early Years Improvement Service, we have developed an effective process for assessing children and supporting provision, and assessment tools that measure the progress of vulnerable children through provision. From this, we can measure the impact of provision on individuals, and the information provided guides the work of providers with individual children. This is important, and we see children who make good developmental progress. We are also beginning to see good results in performance across the authority in terms of "narrowing the gap". This compares Knowsley favourably at a national level.
4.1 What improvements have been made in performance measurement and management?
The performance measurement and management for Knowsley Sure Start Children's Centres has developed significantly since the 2006 National Audit Office report on Children's Centres. Development continues in several areas, particularly in the monitoring of all services including commissioned services, against the Children's Centre performance management framework, the utilisation of appropriate data, the sharing of best practice for performance management arrangements and development of monitoring systems.
4.2 Strong links have been formed with the Commissioning Team within the Directorate of Children and Family Services. This team has supported Sure Start Children's Centres to undertake a robust commissioning process for Children's Centre service provision. The commissioned services are required to provide quarterly performance reports as part of the outcomes based monitoring requirements. The team has also introduced periodic evaluations to the performance management requirements of these services. These measures have ensured that robust quantitative and qualitative data is gathered in order to evidence the outcomes achieved for the children and families accessing these services.
4.3 Children's Centres in Knowsley adopted a new approach to the Self Evaluation of each Centre. The data element of the Self Evaluation Forms (SEFs) now provides information on both the demographics of the Centre area and a range of local priorities. Data is provided at a local level, based on the catchments of each Centre, wherever possible.
4.4 Linked to the SEF; Annual conversations between Centre Managers and Strategic Managers are used to deliver support and challenge to Children's Centres and to ensure best practice is shared.
4.5 More recently Children's Centres have undergone the full core offer validation process through Together for Children. This was a rigorous and thorough review of all the Centres work, and their impact on families. The recommendations are in the process of completion, but the support and challenge from Together for Children has been valid
4.6 The concept of strand guardianship has been developed which offers centre managers the opportunity to lead/co-lead on a particular service area, drawing on their professional heritage to develop this specific area of work and share best practice across all centres
4.7 Six Area Advisory Boards have been established for Knowsley Sure Start Children's Centres, which give direction to the work of Centres in each of the 6 areas of the borough. Boards comprise stakeholders from relevant agencies, parents, and often local elected members, to represent our community.
The Boards receive regular performance management reports, which include both local performance data for each work strand that the respective Centre deliver against, and information regarding the demographic make up of the communities that they serve.
The performance management reports provided to the Boards have recently been reviewed and further developments have been made including the introduction of outcomes reporting and the setting of targets in appropriate areas, such as the reach of excluded groups. This enables Board members to advise on and challenge local Children's Centre delivery.
4.8 Finally, the overall management of the service rests with the local authority. Over the last year, there has been a reconfiguration of the organisational structure which created a new line of accountability for Childrens Centres. The service is accountable to a jointly funded director level post responsible for Childrens Health and Family Support. The post reports to the Director of Childrens Services and Chief Executive of the Primary Care Trust (which is linked to the Local Authority in Knowsley) This is in recognition of the significant needs of the child population, and has increased the capacity to strategically plan for early intervention services, linking Childrens Centres to extended schools, child poverty and play services. This has provided additional management oversight. This, coupled with the approach to area based delivery, which is in the process of become operational across the borough will reinforce links with key stakeholders that are modelled at strategic levels within the authority.
There has been ongoing scrutiny of Childrens Centres through formal reporting arrangements to Elected Members and the Scrutiny Committee.
5. In your opinion are children's centre services (including childcare) sustainable? Do you supplement their dedicated resources from other sources? And has the capital programme had an impact on sustainability?
5.1The co-location of services in Children's Centres offers the opportunity to recoup come of the overheads of running the centre , however this would not be sufficient to meet the full running costs without dedicated resources, and it would be difficult to continue to provide services at the level required without financial support to the authority.
5.2 Opportunities to generate funding to support delivery of required services, however short term and whatever scale, have been a valuable opportunity to develop services that are likely to benefit residents. Examples of this have been referred to earlier in this report.
5.3 Ongoing capital maintenance of Children's Centres is a concern given the limitations on the maintenance budget and Children Centre buildings with increased use and age will require more costly maintenance programmes.
6. Conclusion
Childrens Centres are developing relevant services to support the achievement of every child matters outcomes, and are responding to the requirements of The Childrens Plan. It is especially important that this work continues. We would support the requirement to attract those families who would benefit from provision, but do not access it, however, sustained impact on this will take time.
Knowsley is developing such services through pilot activity and business planning, based on informed assessment of need and performance management. This has been detailed earlier in the report.
October 2009
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