Memorandum Submitted by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)

 

 

Summary

· Over 3,000 Sure Start Childrens' Centres now offer children under 5 and their families access to integrated early childhood services when and where they need them. By 2010 there will be at least 3,500 centres - one for every community.

· Early evidence is that families are benefitting and are very satisfied with the support they receive. In a survey of parents 92% of users were satisfied with the services they received and 68% were very satisfied.

· Through legislation currently before Parliament local authorities will soon have a statutory duty to maintain sufficient centres for all families with young children, embedding children's centres as part of mainstream provision, and Ofsted will have a duty to inspect and report on centres.

· Significant additional investment is in place, on top of resources already in health and employment support services, representing ongoing, long-term support for children's centres. Government is clear that investing in the early years and preventative work with families during the vital first stages of a child's life is the route to improved outcomes and narrowing the gap in outcomes between the poorest children and the rest. The greater part of the £1 billion per year revenue funding for children's centres must go where needs are greatest.

· Engaging with the most vulnerable families is high on centres' agenda. Additional funding provided to local authorities since 2008 has helped to boost resources on the ground and practitioners are finding effective ways of engaging with some of the most vulnerable families. In addition Government has launched a communications campaign so that all families know where their local centre is and what is available there.

· Looking forward work is underway to support local authorities and their Children's Trust partners to develop sustainable children's centres which can demonstrate the impact they are having on 'Every Child Matters' outcomes.

 

Sure Start Children's Centres - a universal service for young children and their families

 

1. Sure Start Children's Centres offer parents of very young children local, neighbourhood access to a range of essential services to support them in meeting the challenges of bringing up children today. Evidence shows that investment in the early years is key for prevention, as well as early intervention and tackling immediate issues children and families may be facing.  Although the roll out of children's centres is not yet complete, and not all are yet delivering their full core offer, there is case-study evidence of how multi-agency working within children's centres is making a real contribution to preventing negative outcomes in later life.  But much of what children's centres are tackling is long-term, including the effects of intergenerational poverty and multiple disadvantage, the effects of which will show later on. 

 

2. The Childcare Act 2006 introduced a duty for local authorities and their partners in Jobcentre Plus and the National Health Service to work together to deliver integrated early childhood services aimed at improving access for families and increasing take up by the most needy. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill (the ASCL Bill) will secure the future of Sure Start Children's Centres as mainstream provision, giving local authorities a duty to maintain sufficient centres and consider regularly, with their partners on the Children's Trust Board, delivering services through centres as part of the process to produce the Children and Young People's Plan.

3. By March 2010 there will be at least 3,500 children's centres - one for every community. The Government's phased programme of national coverage is almost complete. Over 3000 centres provide access to mainstream early childhood services for over 2.4 million children under 5 and their families. 24 local authorities have already achieved coverage across their areas meaning that all families with pre-school children have local, neighbourhood centres available.

 

4. Evidence from a 2008[1] survey of parents from some of the most disadvantaged communities showed that

· awareness of the local centre was high with around eight in ten (78%) respondents having seen or heard about it

· levels of satisfaction were very high with 92% of all users saying they were satisfied (68% were very satisfied).

5. Research, in particular the National Evaluation of Sure Start, has contributed to the evolution of children's centres. Improvements have been made based on evaluation findings and knowledge of what works for families, resulting in a service that continues to grow in effectiveness and responsiveness to families' needs. Good practice is emerging, in particular in relation to working with the most vulnerable families, influencing how children's services are delivered.

 

 

The Rollout of Sure Start Children's Centres

6. Children's centres build on earlier policies including Sure Start Local Programmes and Early Excellence Centres. These were area-based, concentrated on the most deprived communities, or set up to serve specific communities and their needs. While popular and bringing high levels of resource into very needy communities, they reached only a small proportion of the poorest families in the country. Sure Start Local Programmes provided services for fewer than half of the under 5s living in the 20% most deprived wards in England, not all of whom were the poorest children.

7. Not all children living in the most disadvantaged communities are deprived and around a third of the most deprived children under 5 live outside the most deprived areas (defined by reference to the Lower Super Output Areas in the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2007). The universal children's centres model - with a centre for every community - ensures that every child, no matter where they live, benefits from locally accessible integrated services.

8. Roll out of children's centres has been phased. The first phase (to March 2006) targeted 650,000 children under 5 living in the most deprived areas of England. The second phase (to March 2008) provided centres for the remaining most deprived communities and some centres in less disadvantaged areas, defined by reference to the Index of Multiple Deprivation. The final phase (to March 2010) will deliver universal coverage.

9. Rollout is almost complete and a 5 year national evaluation programme is underway to consider the effectiveness of different models and approaches. Ofsted reports on individual centres, starting next year, will add to the national evidence base and support continuous improvement in service delivery.

The strategic role for local authorities

10. Local authorities, together with their partners in Jobcentre Plus and Primary Care Trusts are responsible for planning and delivering children's centres' services. They need to understand the different priorities and levels of demand in each community and are expected to consult with parents and to undertake an audit of existing services, to ensure they have a good understanding of a community's needs and how these vary. This local partnership, working within children's trust arrangements, defines the offer for each centre. The local authority is responsible for receiving and allocating the Sure Start Early Years and Childcare Grant (SSEYCG), including revenue and capital funding for centres, while Jobcentre Plus and the PCTs contribute further resources.

11. Local authorities manage the performance of their children's centres, using information from Centre Leaders, as part of an 'annual conversation', to decide how and where resources can best be deployed. In 2007 the Department for Children, Schools and Families (the Department) produced a framework that includes key performance indicators and starts with a self-evaluation process for the centre to help local authorities and centres structure their business planning, monitoring and forward planning processes. Many authorities have adopted this approach, tailoring the framework to reflect their local priorities and targets.

The range of children's centres services

12. All centres must provide access to a core of services and these appear in Annex 1. Children's centres set up in phases 1 and 2 serving the most disadvantaged communities provide the fullest range of services and the most intensive support with the addition of integrated early learning and full-day childcare places to the list. Introduced in advance of the integration of early learning and care in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) from September 2008, the children's centre provision gave parents accessible childcare, removing a barrier to work and supporting parents in lifting their families out of poverty.

 

13. Evidence from the 'Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE)'[2], about the impact of highly qualified staff with appropriate training and expertise on outcomes for the most disadvantaged children attending early years settings, led to the requirement that these centres employ a qualified teacher to plan and substantially deliver this provision. The 2008 Foundation Stage Profile results showed an increase in the number of children with a good level of development and the gap between the lowest 20% and the rest narrowed. Children's centres are now contributing to continued improvement in EYFS results and to narrowing the gap in achievement.

 

14. The 'core' services for centres serving less disadvantaged communities need not include full-day childcare unless there is unmet demand in the area but all centres are expected to have activities for children on site. Local authorities have flexibility to provide less intensive support services to reflect needs. The Department appointed Together for Children (TfC) in late 2006 as its delivery agent to support and challenge authorities during their strategic planning and rollout of centres.

15. In rural areas where populations are dispersed and numbers in any one area can be small, local authorities can take a more flexible approach to the delivery of services. Guidance suggests building on existing provision such as schools and community centres to use the resources available effectively, possibly delivering services for a wider age range, to use mobile services to go to where families are rather than expecting them to travel to services, and to consider whether childminders, rather then centre-based early learning and childcare places, will better meet parents' needs.

Funding and sustainability

16. Since 1997 the Government has invested over £25 billion in transforming early years and childcare services. By 2010 the Government will be investing over £1billion a year directly to support services in children's centres, in addition to the mainstream resources provided via the NHS for child and maternity health services and through Jobcentre Plus for employment and training advice for parents. The Government has committed to fund children's centres as part of their long-term strategy.

17. Annex 2 contains details of the total funding for Sure Start Local Programmes and children's centres since 1999-2000 when the first programmes were established.


18. In August 2007 the Department advised local authorities of their 3-year revenue funding for 2008-2011. Allocations took into account the numbers of children under 5 in each authority's area and levels of deprivation. They were further weighted for 'rurality' and 'sparsity' and reflected the fact that not all centres would be fully operational or open throughout the year during the roll-out period. Capital allocations were similarly based on numbers of children but were weighted for price differentials. The allocations are in Annex 3.[3]

19. As part of their performance management arrangements, local authorities and children's centres should monitor usage and review services regularly, consulting with parents and their advisory board, to ensure services are having an impact. Centres are not expected to sustain services that do not work or become inappropriate.

20. The provision of integrated early learning and full day childcare is not funded through the SSEYCG and should be ultimately self-financing with costs largely covered through fees. Parents can take up their free entitlement for 3 and 4 year olds in children's centres, providing an additional funding source, and local authorities may choose to use funding for places for children in need or pilots like the 2 year olds pilots, through children's centres provision to help with sustainability. In 'Next Steps for Early Learning and Childcare - Building on the 10-Year Strategy' (January 2009), the Govt announced that it would carry out a qualitative analysis of childcare in children's centres, in order to get a better understanding of sustainability of childcare provision. The government is in the process of considering the next steps following that initial analysis.

 

Value for money

21. The Government is committed to ensuring that the significant resources being invested in children's centres are delivering value for money and are improving outcomes for young children and their families. In 2006 the National Audit Office (NAO) produced a report looking at value for money in Sure Start Children's Centres.[4] The NAO concluded that centres were in transition and had not been established long enough for a real assessment to be made. They made a number of recommendations aimed at improving the financial management in centres and local authorities. To the Department they recommended that as well as its published performance management system it obtain information, and longitudinal data, to demonstrate the programme is working. The Department is setting up a 5 year programme to evaluate children's centres which includes a cost benefit analysis and panel surveys of children from 0 -5years.

22. In response to the subsequent Public Accounts Committee hearing in 2007 the Department gave a number of undertakings[5]. Action has been taken on all of these with guidance on third phase (2008-2010) delivery being issued in Autumn 2007[6] with examples of levels of resource for 'universal' centres as distinct from the 'high focus, high need' centres serving the most disadvantaged communities, as well as illustrative standards of financial management for centres. Chief Executives were asked to ensure early talks were conducted with centres to encourage better forward planning. The National College for School Leadership reviewed the NPQICL course content and from September 2008 reshaped the programme to include a stronger focus on financial management.

23. The Department commissioned a feasibility study to look at a benchmarking system for centres[7]. The study added to the Department's understanding of the breadth of different approaches to funding children's centres, brought about by the local flexibility within which children's centres operate to meet local need. The study concluded that financial and performance management systems would not at this stage support benchmarking. The Department focused efforts on increasing business planning and financial management capacity within children's centres and local authorities. TfC produced toolkits on Business Planning, Performance Management and Reaching Priority and Excluded Families[8]. These toolkits have been supported by interactive workshops with local authority networks to look at setting outcomes and better performance management.


24. Understanding unit costs of services supports better financial management and resource planning. TfC are developing a process for local authorities and centres to use in identifying unit costs. The Department is identifying three authorities, with the help of the Local Authority Reference Group, to work with TfC before the material is disseminated widely. This product needs relatively sophisticated knowledge of centres' expenditure combined with information about performance and outcomes. Close working between finance officers, early years/ children's centres leads and centre leaders is essential.

25. Not all authorities are in a position to use the above approach yet. TfC will run wider regional events for local authorities and children's centres staff later this year which will focus on the relationship between performance management and financial management/resource allocation.

 

26. The activity above provides a base for ongoing and future activity to improve resource management and value for money.

Effective Governance - driving improvement

27. As children's centre become established a variety of governance arrangements is emerging to suit different circumstances. Without fettering this local flexibility the Department has set certain expectations. Every centre should have an advisory board distinguishing between governance and management roles. The advisory board has a strategic oversight role, supporting the centre leader. Operational management remains the responsibility of the centre leader, reporting to the local authority.

 

28. Subject to Parliamentary approval of the ASCL Bill advisory boards will be a statutory requirement for centres including those run for local authorities by private or voluntary sector organisations. The role of the advisory board is to "provide advice and assistance for the purpose of ensuring the effective operation of the children's centre within its remit". The Bill does not establish advisory boards as a body corporate with specified legal duties but does contain minimum requirements on membership - representatives of the centre, expected to be at least the centre manager, the local authority and parents/prospective parents - and is clear others may be members of advisory boards. Statutory guidance will explain this in more detail.

 

29. Recognising that formal governance roles may not appeal to less confident parents, children's centres use a variety of approaches to ensure parents have a voice. Parents' forums - run for parents by parents - have been successfully used in many areas. While the ASCL Bill does not introduce a requirement for parents' forums, because it was not considered sensible to be prescriptive, the Government strongly supports parents forums as a means of involving parents directly in the life of their centre.

 

Management and staffing

30. Local authorities are responsible for setting management structures for children's centres taking account of the local context, in particular the levels of disadvantage, and collocation of staff. In rural areas or where centres are serving more affluent areas with lower demand, local authorities may decide to use area managers and clustering arrangements for management and governance.

31. The Centre Leader is a key figure whose job it is to bind together the team and to communicate a clear vision of what the team is seeking to achieve with the community of families in which they work. Leaders come from a range of professional backgrounds - health, social care, education, community development - with a variety of mainly degree equivalent qualifications. They are expected to undertake the National Professional Qualification for Integrated Centre Leaders - a course developed specially to equip them for their role. Nearly 1400 Leaders have completed the course with around 500 in the process of starting or completing it.

 

32. Peer support and knowledge transfer is gained through the Children's Centre Leaders Network - now entering its second year - which is key in increasing sector-led improvement.

 

33. Integrated working in children's centres with staff from a range of professional backgrounds forming multi-agency teams is becoming well established. Staff value the opportunities offered by collocation both in providing everyday support for parents and widening their own understanding of shared aims and objectives.

34. Guidance issued by the Department recommends that all childcare workers should hold NVQ level 3 while other workers should be qualified to at least level 2. Numbers of staff and particular combinations of professionals and volunteers or para-professionals are a matter for local decision.

Working in partnership with schools, health services and others

Schools

35. Around half of all children's centres will be located on school sites. Centres can be run separately from the school, or be operated by the school, using their extended services powers, often under a service level agreement or other arrangement with the local authority. Co-location with schools enables, on a very practical level, the contribution of a qualified teacher to the multi-agency team planning and delivering services in the children's centre, known to be a key element in improving outcomes for the poorest children.

36. In many areas, even where not collocated, children's centres and schools are working very closely together, including in cluster working arrangements, to ensure that information is passed on at key transition points, like when children move from childcare and start their school life.

Integrated working with health services

37. Children's centres play a significant role in delivering the Healthy Child Programme (HCP) - the progressive, universal preventative and early intervention service for under 5s and their families. The Government's Child Health Strategy, published in February 2009[9] committed to children's centres having access to a named health visitor, and this is being taken forward with the Department of Health through the 'Action on health Visiting Programme'. Annex 4 contains more details.

38. All children's centres will provide basic information and advice, and make contact with local parents to ensure that they know what is on offer, whether in the centre or elsewhere, so they know how to access the services they need. In less disadvantaged areas there are likely to be fewer health services on site and more 'signposting' to other provision.

39. On the ground there is much good, innovative practice where centres are working well with local health partners. The Children's Centre Leader Network events as well as national conferences have provided opportunities to share best practice.

40. The Department is working with the Department of Health to explore what more can be done to improve information sharing between health professionals and children's centres.

Integrated working with Jobcentre Plus

41. Jobcentre Plus involvement in children's centres is making an important contribution to reducing child poverty - helping parents to think ahead during their child's early years about opportunities for training or work that will help to provide a better economic future for their family. All children's centres are required to have links with Jobcentre Plus in place when they first open. The nature of the link is negotiated locally and agreed in the light of circumstances, demand and community requirements.

 

42. Research published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in 2008[10] showed that Jobcentre Plus involvement was most effective when an adviser ran sessions in a centre and was proactive in meeting and informing children's centre users about services on offer.

 

43. In 2008 the Government announced in Ending Child Poverty: Everybody's Business[11] a series of pilots to test innovative approaches to eradicating child poverty, including enhanced work-focused services delivered through children's centres. The pilot started in January 2009 and runs to March 2011 and involves placing a full-time adviser in 30 children's centres across 10 local authorities. A comprehensive evaluation strategy is in place for the pilot. Interim findings from the evaluation will be available in spring 2010, with the final report being produced in summer 2011.

 

Partnership working with the private, voluntary and independent sector

44. Partnership working with the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector has been an essential ingredient from the outset in children's centres, particularly for the delivery of childcare in children's centres. The provisions of the Childcare Act 2006 encouraged local authorities to become providers of last resort in relation to childcare and to work to support the local 'market' instead. Local authorities have a childcare sufficiency duty. A key part of the early planning process for centres during the roll-out has been consultation with providers, as well as parents, about where and how centres' services should be delivered. The PVI sector deliver around half of all integrated early learning and childcare provision in centres. Providers value their links to children's centres, supporting them with families in need and offering a swift means of providing extra support when needed.

45. Some local authorities have also contracted out the management of their children's centres to voluntary sector organisations. Action for Children, 4Children and Barnardos amongst others, are all involved in managing a number of centres across the country. These arrangements are relatively new and have not yet been evaluated.

 

 

Ensuring vulnerable families benefit from Sure Start Children's Centres

46. It is often the most vulnerable families, whose children face the poorest outcomes, who find mainstream services hard to access. Research evidence since 2007 on Sure Start Local Programmes, in reports by the National Audit Office[12] and Ofsted[13] on children's centres, and a survey of parents by TNS[14] all show that children's centres are increasingly engaging with the most vulnerable families. A positive "Sure Start effect" was demonstrated across all population groups in the NESS evaluation. Details of further findings are in Annex 5.

47. Ofsted in 2008 confirmed that individuals and families were well served by the children's centres and schools that they attended. Services which had been used by the most vulnerable parents were reported to have transformed the lives of some parents and had positive effects on their children. However not all children's centres are yet fully effective in this important role and there is still more to do to ensure that all families are able and supported to access the services they need.

48. In February 2009 the TNS survey provided strong evidence that centres were reaching out to all sections of the community. It found "The profile of centre users very closely matches the profile of respondents overall, and there is no evidence that any sub-groups within the community are monopolising the centres. Equally, the results suggest that no sub-groups are being excluded from or failing to access the centres.". Those in social demographic AB composed 12% of the local population but 14% of centre users, whereas those in DE were 50% of the population but 48% of centre users.

49. The Government has taken steps to increase the effectiveness of the outreach services from children's centres by:

· allocating additional revenue from 2008-09 to enable local authorities to fund two additional outreach workers in children's centres serving the most disadvantaged communities; and

· committing in the Children's Plan to making outreach activity from children's centres more effective through better trained and supported staff. The Department has been

Ø Gathering insight and information on training needs through workshops with stakeholders such as Health and the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) to look at good practice and what works

Ø working with CWDC to arrange for some 5,000 practitioners to take up training.

Ø using the Children's Centre Leaders Network to share good practice.

50. A small scale scoping study on outreach to children and families, conducted by Capacity Ltd[15] on behalf of the Department during 2008, provides information on parents' experience of outreach, and the resulting benefits, as perceived by them. The majority of parents interviewed were on low incomes, economically inactive and were selected by the children's centres in the study as representative of families receiving, or formerly receiving, outreach support. The parents believed that they had benefited from family support not only in relation to their children's development and welfare, but to their own well-being, self confidence and engagement with children's centres and other services. For a significant minority family support had had a positive bearing on their involvement in training and steps towards employment.

 

51. The Government has this autumn launched a communications campaign to build awareness of children's centres so that all parents know where their local children's centre is and what it offers. The campaign includes national, regional and local activity and targets 30 of the most deprived areas in England. Around 400 people attended a conference on outreach and over 1,000 children's centres took part in Sure Start Children's Centres week this year (14-18 September) which celebrated and showcased the impact children's centres have locally.

 

October 2009

 

 

Annex 1

 

Universal core services for all children's centres

 

All centres must provide a universal range of services including:

· outreach services for isolated parents/carers and children at risk of social exclusion, including health visitors linked with the centre, underpinned with good information and data about families in the local area

· information and advice to fathers and mothers /carers on a range of subjects including: local childcare, looking after babies and young children and local education services for three- and four-year olds

· support to childminders via a quality assured, coordinated network, but also to other childminders in the area by providing shared training opportunities, loan of toys and equipment and by hosting drop-in sessions

· activities for children and mothers and fathers /carers at the centre, eg: play groups, stay and play, parent groups, drop-in sessions, crèches in the centre itself, these could be existing services which the children's centre is being built around

· links with Jobcentre Plus, to encourage and support labour market participation by parents/carers who wish to consider training and employment. The nature of the links will be negotiated locally in light of community needs and local circumstances but could consist of, one or more of the following : up to date vacancy boards in the centre, internet access, warm phones,  Jobcentre Plus advisers offering one to one or group support, drop-in or regular opportunities to consult personal advisers for advice on the financial impact of starting work, a named 'link adviser' at the Jobcentre providing a direct contact point for parents, leaflets and posters advertising Jobcentre Plus services.

Access to community health services; including antenatal services and the Healthy Child Programme, led and delivered by health visiting teams tailored to meet different levels of risk and need, and access to specialist services - in particular for children with special needs and disabilities.



[1] 'Sure Start Children's Centres Survey of Parents' by TNS 2008

[2] Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) Project : Final Report see www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway

 

[3] Not published on the Committee's website.

[4] Sure Start Children's Centres Dec 2006 - see www.nao.org.uk

[5] The Treasury Minute response to the PAC report on Sure Start Children's Centres CM7216, Oct 2007. See also PAC report on Sure Start Childrens Centres HC 261, Session 2006-07.

[6] Sure Start Children's Centres Phase 3 Planning and Delivery www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters

[7] Sure Start Children's Centres Financial Benchmarking to ensure value for money see www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway

[8] See www.childrens-centres.org

[9] Healthy Lives, Brighter Futures - the strategy for children and young peoples health. Feb 2009. www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics

[10] Dench S, Aston J, James L, Foster R (2008); Jobcentre Plus and Children's Centres. Research Report 485, Department for Work and Pensions

[11] Ending Child Poverty - Everybody's Business see www.hm-treasury,gov.uk

[12] Sure Start Children's Centres Dec 2006 - see www.nao.org.uk

[13] Ofsted report 'How well are they doing - the impact of children's centres and extended schools. See www.ofsted.gov.uk

[14] TNS survey - 'Sure Start Children's Centres Survey of Parents .www.dcsf.gov.uk/research

[15] Outreach to children and families - a scoping study. See www.dcsf.gov.uk/research.