Agenda Item No: 09 – Appendix B
EARLY HELP AND PREVENTION Children’s Centre Venues Consultation Response Analysis
Report Author Sheila Sturgeon, Policy and Projects Officer, Early Help and Prevention Date 5th January 2015
1. Introduction 1.1. It is proposed that we make changes to the opening hours of some Children’s Centres, and in five cases, to the venues being used for some universal and for targeted Children’s Centre services. 1.2. Earlier this year our new model of delivering Children’s Centres came into effect, following extensive consultation over 12 weeks in the summer of 2013, which was supportive of the new model, and a commissioning process in the spring of this year 1. As a result, some of the services previously found in Children’s Centres are now delivered from our 36 libraries, and early help targeted Children’s Centre services to families in need of additional support are delivered by commissioned providers. 1.3. The early help targeted Children’s Centre services have been using all designated venues alongside universal services from our health and JobCentre Plus partners. The providers of our targeted services (Action for Children and Spurgeons) will spend much more time with families and children in and nearer to their homes and this means that they want to deliver less in the Children’s Centre buildings. To achieve this we propose to change the hours that some buildings are open , and to move services to entirely new venues in a very small number of cases. 1.4. NCC has a statutory duty to consult upon ‘major changes’ to the Children’s Centre provision 2. As such a consultation programme has been undertaken consisting of: - • On-line ‘survey-monkey’ questionnaire (665 responses received); • Ten public meetings attended by 124 people. 1.5. The meetings and questionnaire have been widely promoted. A press briefing was held on the day the consultation opened, and was reported upon by local printed and broadcast media across all platforms. Journalists attended a number of the public meetings, and Anglia TV filmed participation in the Towcester meeting. Email alerts to the consultation were sent to all local councillors, NCC and boroughs / districts, and parish councils, as well as a number of representative bodies. Posters were placed in all Children’s centre venues. Electronic posters were placed in all libraries. Both the internet and intranet were used to promote the consultation, as well as the LSCBN and other allied newsletters. 2. Context 2.1. This consultation has taken place at a time when many of the changes described in 2.2 and 2.3 above are being implemented; the new providers of Children’s Centre services took over the
1 See Report and survey results considered and agreed at Cabinet 8 th October 2013 which outlines the new model of delivery and the results of the associated consultation. 2 Childcare Act 2006, Section 5D: Duty on local authorities to ensure there is consultation before any significant changes are made to children’s centre provision in their area. See here for more information. Children’s Centre Venues Consultation Analysis December 2014 v.1
running of the centres in August and September 2014 and so changes have been experienced by the users of our Children’s Centres. 2.2. Many of the responses received from the public have focused upon these changes rather than upon the proposals to make changes to the venues in which children’s centre services are delivered. 2.3. The comments received relating to these issues suggest strongly that users of Children’s Services do not yet fully understand our new model of delivery, and this has led to some dissatisfaction. These comments have been summarised, alongside recommendations to increase understanding of the model amongst families in an allied report. 2.4. There was some criticism that the consultation document did not provide sufficient details of the changes to be made, i.e., the planned opening hours of those centres where hours are to be reduced; and precisely which buildings would be designated as a Children’s Centre to replace those that would no longer be in use. This information had not been included as the providers were not be able to be precise until detailed planning and scoping has been completed; work that cannot take place until the changes have been approved. This was explained at public meetings, and accepted by those present; however we it is noted that should have made this clear in the public consultation document. 3. Public Meetings 3.1. Meetings were held as follows: - • Daventry District: Brixworth – 26th November at 6.00 pm at Brixworth Primary School • Daventry District: Long Buckby – 21 th November at 2.00 pm at Long Buckby Children’s Centre • East Northamptonshire: Rushden - 17 th November at 10.00 am at The Pemberton Centre, • East Northamptonshire: Thrapston – 28 th November at 5.30 at The Thrapston Plaza • Kettering – 17 th November at 5.00 pm at Ise Valley Pavilion Community Centre • Northampton East and Centre (Blackthorn) - 27 th November at 10.00 am at Blackthorn Community Centre • Northampton North and West (Duston) – 19 th November at 2.00 pm at Duston Community Centre • South Northamptonshire: Towcester – 18 th November at 1.00 pm at Towcester Children’s Centre • South Northamptonshire: Brackley – 18 th November at 4.00 pm at Brackley Leisure Centre • Wellingborough – 20 th November at 1.00 pm at Croyland Children’s Centre Format 3.2. A presentation was made outlining the EHP Strategy and where Children’s Centre services fitted into this strategy. An outline of the previous consultation (summer 2013) was also provided along with the decisions made (see Introduction above). The presentation is appended at i). 3.3. Questions were encouraged during the presentation, and these were noted along with responses. 3.4. At the end of the presentation three questions were put to those attending the meeting, who were encouraged to write their responses on post-it notes so that they could be collated and considered. Question 1: What do you think of the proposals? 3.5. Very few responses focused upon the proposals to change the venues and / or opening times.
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3.6. The majority of those that commented on the venue changes suggested that it was not possible to be confident that the proposals were positive until they had been enacted. Question 2: Will this result in Children’s Centre Services providing the right service, in the right place at the right time? 3.7. Again, very few responses focused upon the proposals to change the venues and / or opening times. 3.8. Those that commented on venue changes were generally of the view that, if the changes were promoted adequately, there was likelihood that this would be achieved. Question 3: How can we make the proposals better? 3.9. Once again, the comments tended to focus upon the move of some universal services to Libraries. 3.10. Where comments focused upon the venues, adequate promotion of any changes and inclusion of Centre users in timetabling and service development were viewed as key to the proposals being successful. 3.11. Notes taken at the public meetings, focusing upon the answers to the questions noted above are appended at ii ). 4. Questionnaire 4.1. The questionnaire, which was available on-line, by email or in paper format through the post when requested by telephone or in writing, is appended at iii). 4.2. Detailed response data is available by clicking here . 4.3. Responses were received from all areas of the county as per Chart 1 below: -
Chart 1- Responses by Area 4.4. Responses were principally received from prospective and current users of Children’s Centre services, also from people who live or work in the selected area of the county. 4.5. Response distribution as per the interest of respondents is summarised in Chart 2 overleaf. Page 3 of 38
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Chart 2 – Responses by Interest 4.6. Of the current or prospective users of Children’s Centre services almost 94% had used services in the past 6 months. Where they hadn’t used services, this was principally because the timings did not meet their needs (48%), often due to work commitments. 4.7. Around 20% (132 of 665) chose not to answer the principal question of the questionnaire “We believe that the proposed changes and the increase in outreach and home visiting will considerably improve access to our targeted services, which are interventions that specifically help families and children that need extra support. Do you agree?” 4.8. Of the 533 that responded to this question, 23.3% agreed, 52.5% disagreed and 24.2% told us that they didn’t know if they agreed or disagreed, as shown in the Chart 3 overleaf.
Chart 3 – Responses to Question 5
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4.9. The opportunity to provide commentary was given to those who disagreed with the above statement. An analysis of these shows clearly that almost all respondents that disagreed with the statement, in fact were expressing concerns about the changes to the service providers (including Libraries) and / or to the emphasis upon targeted services by the Children’s Centre services providers, and / or to perceived cuts in services. As previously stated this had been the subject of consultation in the summer of 2013. For example: • “It may help those who require extra support but removes a service [that] lots of people use.” • “My concern is the closure of many childminding groups which have been held at children's centres.” • “Libraries are not the right environment to hold children’s centre activities, due to noisy toddlers. “ • “You have cut the classes they run in my area because it’s more "affluent" and not a target area. The staff have been cut and services are limited”. 4.10. Of 269 comments made here, only 16 (0.6%) could be interpreted as being focused upon the changes to the Children’s Centre venues rather than the wider changes. Equality of Access 4.11. In question 7, we asked respondents to tell us if they thought that the changes described will have a negative impact upon people, as a result of having a protected characteristic under the Equalities Act 3, or due to rural isolation. As shown in Chart 4 below, nearly 60% of respondents thought that this would be the case. Nearly 80% (526) of respondents answered this question.
Chart 4 – Responses to Question 7
3 Under the Equalities Act 2010, the following are protected characteristics: - Race / ethnicity; age; disability; pregnancy and maternity; religion or belief; gender / gender identity; sexual orientation.
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4.12. In the following question (8) 268 respondents (50% of those that answered question 7) identified that the groups they thought were most likely to be disadvantaged by the proposals. The most prevalent were:- a. Those that live in the countryside and are isolated (61.2%, 164 respondents); b. Those who are pregnant or have had a baby in the last 6 months (51.9%, 139 respondents); and c. Those who are young or older (44.8%, 120 respondents). Other characteristics were also selected, as shown in Chart 5 (below), but less often.
Chart 5 – Responses to Question 8 4.13. The information collected in the response to this question, and the following question 9 (which gave respondents the opportunity to provide us with ideas to help mitigate against the negative impacts they thought would be felt) have been used to inform an Equalities Impact Assessment (EqIA). The principal mitigations required will be in the area of potential rural isolation, in that the responses noted at 4.11 b. and c. are to be expected, given the nature of the services offered at Children’s Centres and because younger and older people – as children, parents and grandparents -, and those who are pregnant or have a baby under 6 months old are the core audience for Children’s Centre services. 4.14. In the final question (prior to those seeking demographic information about the respondents) we gave respondents the opportunity to give us “further comments or suggestions relating to any of our proposed changes” . 184 respondents chose to do so. 4.15. These comments and those in answer to questions 5 and 6 tended to focus upon:- a. The nature of the changes underway as previously discussed, e.g. “ allow universal services to continue in the venues, as the library is too small in our village ” ;
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b. Anti ‘contracting-out’ statements, e.g. “ it seems apparent to me that this is simply a case of contracting out services away from the financial and legal obligations of the County Council .” c. Praise for existing services (perceived to be being ‘cut’), e.g. “ The staff at the centre were so helpful and inviting and we soon made friends with other families with children my grandchild age. ” d. An assumption that the changes underway and those being proposed in the consultation were being made due to budgetary constraints, e.g. “ Keep the sure starts running stop making redundancies and cuts to the funding ”; e. Further emphasis upon the need for services to be provided in areas that are potentially rurally isolated “In the South Northants area which is very rural, there is a lot of social isolation ”; f. A concern that libraries able to provide a suitable setting for children’s centre activities, e.g. “Libraries are quiet places not places for hyper active babies / pre schoolers! ”. 4.16. In addition, however, the following suggestions were made: - a. Parents could be asked to contribute to the cost of universal provision in Children’s Centre settings; b. Additional universal health services could be offered in the Children’s Centre setting; c. Provide guidance to commissioned providers on the selection, training and support of volunteers; d. Provide support to families to establish local universal groups. LOT Area Analysis 4.17. Respondents were asked to tell us which LOT area they wished to comment upon. The distribution was as shown in Chart 1 (page 3). 4.18. People living in Wellingborough and Northampton (excepting Northampton West) were more likely to disagree with our statement that our proposals will improve access to targeted services (around 60%). The areas with the highest proportion of ‘don’t knows’ was South Northamptonshire and Daventry (over 30% of the total respondents in those areas) and the area with highest proportion of respondents agreeing with our statement was East Northamptonshire, with over 28% of respondents agreeing with the statement in question 5. Kettering was the area of highest response with 134, with East Northamptonshire very close behind at 133 and Daventry third (84). The lowest number of respondents came from the Northampton LOT areas, with 24 from Central, 49 from East, 38 from North and 52 from West. South Northamptonshire had 74 respondents and Wellingborough 77. Interest Area Analysis 4.19. The distribution of interest area responses is outlined in 5.3 and depicted in Chart 2. 4.20. People who live or work in the area were more likely to think that our proposals would be successful than the other three groups, with just over 30% of these respondents agreeing. The other three groups responses were very similar, with centre users slightly more likely to be unsure than professionals and those representing other groups. Demographic Analysis 4.21. Only 22 of 359 respondents who told us their gender were male, and so no further analysis has been undertaken on this grouping.
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4.22. People who were pregnant or who have had a baby in the past 6 months were least likely to believe that our proposals would be successful in improving access to targeted services (66%); as previously stated, however, in the comments provided it is clear that their objections were to the perceived removal of universal services in Children’s Centres and not to the change in venues and times of opening. Disability, religion ethnicity and age had no significant impact upon the respondent’s opinions, excepting that the older the respondent the more likely they were to object to the proposals. 5. Conclusions 5.1. Those attending the Public Meetings that focused upon the changes to opening hours and venues became supportive of the changes once they were understood in context, however, recommended that the changes be promoted and explained widely to current and prospective users of the services. 5.2. Concern was often expressed about the stigmatisation that ‘segregating’ targeted services might lead to, however, once it was understood that universal health and other services would still be provided this concern was to some extent allayed. The provision of volunteer-led or other alternative delivery of universal services in addition to the libraries was generally supported. 5.3. A small majority of respondents did not agree that our proposals would improve services to families in need of additional support. 5.4. An analysis of the commentary provided by respondents to the survey demonstrates clearly that the majority were in fact responding to the changes in children’s centre services that they were experiencing rather than the proposed changes to children’s centre venues. 5.5. Where respondents focused upon the venues, there were few objections to the reduction in opening hours of some designated Children’s Centres, nor to the moving of some venues within five areas, provided that the users of the centres feel that they are involved in the decision making process (i.e. actual hours of opening, and where appropriate which venues will used in place of the current venues), and that the changes agreed are clearly and widely communicated to all interested parties. 5.6. However, and in addition, NCC and the commissioned providers must communicate the nature of the services to be provided, where and when they are to be provided, and how parents and others can get involved widely and clearly.
Appendix iv) Response received from Healthwatch
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Appendix i) Sample Presentation made to Public Meetings
Children & Families Early Help & Prevention
Children’s Centre Venues Public Consultation
Daventry District 26 th November 2014
Context
• Public consultation from 7 th November 2014 – 19 th December 2014 • Document and Online questionnaire at www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/consultations • Hard copy and emailable survey available [email protected] • Consultation feedback reported to Councillors and officers for consideration February 2015 when final decision made.
Children & Families – Early Help & Prevention Strategy Purpose – To enable children and families to access appropriate support as early as possible , to help them maintain their quality of life, prevent any problems getting worse and reduce the demand for specialist support services. Key Aim – to provide early and effective help and support to children and families when they need it , with the long term goal of ‘helping more families in Northamptonshire to be able to help themselves’, thus improving their overall well being and quality of life
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Delivery based on four levels of need
Level 4 – Specialist Services Level 3 – Targeted Level 2 – Early Help Level 1 – Universal
Right service, right place, right time
Full range of Children’s Centre Services available in every area Targeted and Complementary Universal Services LibraryPlus Universal • Information and Advice Services • Stay and Play • Information and Advice Service • School Readiness • Registration Service • Health, Lifestyles and Well- • Volunteer Service being • Services and Activities • Parenting and family support including Stories, Song and • Improved education and Rhyme employability within families • 7 days per week • County-wide
Universal Health and Employment Support Offer
Heath and JobCentre Plus are still at Children’s Centre venues • Drop in and appointments with Health Visitors and midwives • Drop in advice and support sessions with JobCentre Plus
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Northamptonshire Library Plus 36 Libraries 2 Mobile Libraries
v Open 7 days a week
v Local community hub
v Trusted by families
v Family venues, services/resources
Services and Activities
• Activities throughout the week in Libraries:-Rhymetime, Storytime, Toddlertime etc - a percentage of which will be on the weekend • Accessible to all children under 5 and their families • Drop-in community hub - reduce social isolation and improve well- being • Opportunities and support for adults to continue with learning • Access to IT and Wi-fi to support on-line learning • Information and advice on a range of issues • Registration with Children’s Centres • Opportunities to volunteer
The Targeted Offer Keeping children safe at the centre of everything • High quality targeted response including – Evidence based programmes – Skilled Generalist and CAF lead services – Parenting and family relationship support – Peer-mentoring support, utilisation and development – School readiness – Domestic abuse support and advice – Teenage parent provision
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Right service, right place, right time
Child focused
• Community based • Flexible and responsive to individual family needs • Helping parents and carers to get back into employment or training • Improving skills, ESOL, literacy and numeracy
What difference will we make? By working in this way we will - • Enable change for children and families most in need in each community • Enable early intervention • Support easy access and high awareness of services to families • Deliver services that are shaped for, informed by and accountable to the local community • Evidence the impact of services
So where will we be delivering services?
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The venue in Brixworth will A range of community venues no longer be used, however, throughout the district will local community venues will also be used, and families will The Long Buckby venue be used in its place be visited at home. will offer a reduced timetable
Services at the Daventry East have already transferred to alternative community venues. Daventry West Children’s Centres will remain full-time facilities
A range of community venues throughout the district will also be Universal used, and families will services at all The Woodford Halse library sites in be visited at home. venue will offer a reduced timetable Daventry District
4
What do you think of the proposals?
Will this result in Children’s Centre Services providing the right service, in the right place at the right time?
How can we make the proposals better?
THANK YOU
4 This slide varied to depict the offer in the local area.
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Appendix ii) Summary of Responses at Public Meeting Please note that all three questions were not answered at every meeting and so some venues are not listed under every question. Question 1: What Do You Think Of The Proposals? East Northamptonshire (Rushden): - Pemberton Centre • Spurgeons do not seem equipped to deal with rural isolation issues. • Why was it not part of the Spurgeons contract that they worked with well established, well thought of and effective voluntary agencies? • There is a loss of faith of the Council commitment to all communities and parenting. There are no straight answers from Spurgeons or library on what is on offer. It seems like Families and Users of services have been left out the loop in all of this. • Keep things as they are. Spurgeons/ ex SureStart team have been through the mill these last few years with redundancies and changes. Locally, they are loved and appreciated and will be a huge loss. It should not be happening. • Poor choice, bad decision following Ofsted tick box not local needs. The Centres are the hub of the Parenting community and we are losing staff and friends through redundancy. Its heart breaking, unnecessary and has upset Centre users. • Funding is being directed to support library services in the guise of Universal Support (away from Children Centres). • The Public Consultations were not advertised effectively, not the right time. There needs to be better communication of services available. • The information conveyed by Spurgeons was not consistent enough, and was slightly confusing. • Parents are not happy with staff coming to their home. This can be isolating. People would prefer staff to meet with other Parents at the same time. • It is impossible for staff to visit 50 targeted families at their home; more staff will need to be recruited. Kettering: Ise Valley Pavilion Community Centre • Concerned that if universal services are not maintained then Families will ‘slide’ into level 2/3. • Proposals fair. • Losing the support/play sessions for all is very disappointing. What is classed as vulnerable? I feel that every new Parent can be vulnerable. I feel that my Child will be at a disadvantage as a result of these changes. • To cover cost why not charge a small fee like 50p-£1 • I feel that my child will be at a disadvantage by the changes as the services will not be available. • I’m concerned that the proposal will mean that we lose sessions that we already have, and that work well. Rothwell is already this month only able to run a basic timetable. We find having a purpose built, safe and secure area, just up the road to walk to very valuable, and it would be a great shame to lose it. In particular, we like the universal groups that I can take both Children to. My husband also comes along when work allows. He used to attend ‘Desborough Dads’ on a Saturday which no longer runs. Our eldest Child was born prematurely and he spent his Paternity leave in Page 14 of 38
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hospital with us both, so getting to spend some dedicated Dad time was really important for his wellbeing. I also found the sensory play sessions great for the babies, particularly as my first was so small and fragile it was the only place I could take him that was ‘just’ for him and didn’t need to protect him from older Children. For myself, as a Mother it was important to regain some normality after what we had been through. I also found the little things like the staff learning mine and my Childs name, getting to know our story really helpful and was sometimes the only real interaction I got during the week as a new Mum at home. It also made me more likely to attend sessions. • Parents not being able to attend. Would have preferred a 1:1 at the Children Centre. There is not enough resource. • People felt that this was not a good venue as it was too far from their local area. • Children services are limited, there are not enough ‘right ‘services and buildings are not accessible. South Northamptonshire: Towcester Children Centre • Parents were not aware of the consultations. Found out through an email- it doesn’t feel like the consultation is a true representation from NCC. • Towcester has a new library that has minimal impact. Only rural areas will be affected. • Early Help and Antenatal classes- Mums should be able to access Children Centre facilities. Venues are to be made available for all Children Services. • Cost involved for Children’s Centres- Funding is not reduced for this area. The changes are affecting new Mothers and not understanding what’s what. There needs to be more consistency. • Brackley library is open all the time, even weekends. Services are available but there is limited space in this building. • Middle Cheney share area as Brackley- practical decisions need to be made. • Home visits feel targeted. Parents are not seeing everyday Parenting. Mums need to see other Mums breastfeeding and need to see normal Parenting behaviours. • People are worried about redundancies and venue changes. South Northamptonshire: Brackley Leisure Centre • Breastfeeding services are not always available. • New Mums like to discuss issues with each other. Do not like booking on to a service, like doors to be open and available anytime. • Libraries and Homestart- there are no qualified staff. • Voluntary staff are not being given DBS checks • Building sizes show to be a problem- not enough space and no access. • More services are needed for disabled Children. • Opening hours- a lot of people are giving up on using Children Centres as unsure what’s going on. Northampton North / West: Duston Community Centre • I am not using Libraries for Children services is an advantage when this building is ideal. • Worried how the Universal Service are going to be delivered in Libraries by untrained staff? • People really miss the sensory room. Disabled Children in particular. • Would like to see more groups for a varied age, as have been turned away from groups as I have a 2 years old and a 3 year old. • There doesn’t seem to be much thought on support/ friendly faces for everyone. Children centres are a meeting place for every type of Family. Page 15 of 38
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• Would like to see all members of staff have CRB checks as running or volunteering with groups. • Very poor. It seems to be a budget issue- cost cutting which it should not be part of the Children’s Centre services bid, was that their money in the pot? The new provider must have included ‘all it can do’ in the bid, and so far Families feel it has filed to deliver. • Not sure libraries are the best place for Children’s groups, as space and staff seem willing. • Will Library staff deliver Universal Services – have they and Child development skills? • Don’t leave new building empty. • Opening times for reduced sites? No other Community building? • Camrose- Parents are not getting what they were used to be getting. • Do not have a local library in the area. • Worrying about staff restructure. • Camrose need to maintain a core timetable, and to offer more choice in services. • Library not near Camrose. Universal services to be offered. • Upton Meadows Primary School unaware re the consultation. Spurgeons are not maintaining links with schools. The school feel like their voice hasn’t been heard nor consulted. • There are more services at Duston for younger Children than for older Children. • No immediate support for Target prevention related issues. Wellingborough: Croyland Children’s Centre • Why push services out to the Libraries before safety measures are implemented. How many Children get hurt/lost before things are sorted. • I hope today was not a ‘tick box exercise’ • I think it was extremely rude that no decision makers bothered to show. If you can’t be bothered to talk to us, how can we trust you? • Libraries- not safe, 2 flights of steep stairs. Children are easily knocked down by other Children. This is very dangerous. The lift is very small- venue needs to be reviewed. • Some sessions at the library have not taken place. Need to know what’s actually going on as most of the services are to be paid for. • People would like the option for a minibus to get to places. • 0-18 months have been mixed with up to 8 year olds. Proper sessions are required. Parents find it extremely dangerous that their little ones will get hurt. Need a separate activity (separate from the above) to allow Children to socialise and burn off energy. Parents do not feel that they need to group to get activities going. • Some of the activities are inappropriate such as sandpit and water features. • Some groups have been taken away. Some of the Parents feel that they do not need help, they just need somewhere for their Children to go and interact. Need to look at targeted areas. • NCC are trying to fix what is not broken. Ofsted report is poor/Children Centres are inadequate.. changes need to be made. • Some groups are overcrowded and therefore Parents cannot attend. They can’t go elsewhere e.g. breastfeeding groups. Daventry : Brixworth Primary School • An opportunity and a challenge to build a leading edge facility
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• Need to ensure the venue is user friendly, Uplands Building is not. It is very small and people have to use the Community Centre instead, especially for Stay and Play. • Uplands is not very well used building, • Uplands is not a drop in facility.. will libraries support? • The Library would be a good venue as other facilities can be used e.g. the shops which will bring the community back together. The uplands building is a bit isolating. • NCC wasted public money building the Upland Building. Major problems include the upkeep and management of it. There are other stakeholders such as the History Society willing to use this building. Maybe larger stakeholders should be engaged with. • Outdoor Play- need to revisit what activities still take place. New outdoor area is wasted if not used effectively. • NCC/AC4 need to advertise better. • Uplands building is a waste of money. It is very expensive to rent and use. Northampton Central / East: Blackthorn Community Centre • By the very nature of the buildings- some Parents will not access Universal services at a Church or Library. • Appears to be targeting at Risk Families, Teenage Parents etc but not offering any encouragement to Families to come to the centres. • Community centres don’t give the impression of community centre, but a job club/return to work only. • There are no appropriate out reach venues in the Eastfield/ Headlands area which we have struggled with historically. • Families without cars in Eastfield and Headlands centre would be asked to travel to Thorplands which would be an hour’s walk. • You talk about Early Intervention but Families will only be identified if they do not engage in a Library at Crisis Point. • How are you going to measure the outcomes of the Children’s progress and development if the services are being cut? • Are going to be trained people employed in the Libraries to meet the needs of these Families? • What about the Families in crisis who turn up to the part-time centres? • Families need professional support. Most of the staff are voluntary. • Library is a great venue, but not the same set up as a Children’s Centre. • People need a reason to go to a Children Centre- there needs to be something exciting to motivate people. • Some activities are not available e.g. Stay and Play. • Its not easy to get to places • Changes make things difficult for Parents • Hard to find out any information. • There is no encouragement to go to a Children’s Centre- lack of trust, isolation, and no encouragement to access services. • What about privacy in the Libraries if Parents are willing to share information?
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• How will Eastfield area near Abington Library be served- what events will be used? • How will targeted Families be found? East Northamptonshire: The Thrapston Plaza • We can’t tell until the new system is in use. • Reduced services can only surely mean reduced coverage • Understand needs • Do feel you will be separating Families to one needy/not so needy. • We need to have these centre to bring communities together not to single people out. • They are a reasonable beginning • Not all are aware of the Parent Advisory Boards • Not sure on who our Parent Reps are in the area • People are panicking about the budget cuts and service cuts • There is no equity across the County. • Unclear what the Providers are doing • Unhappy that Spurgeons were late • No Parent help • Heartbroken that the People they trust at the Children Centre are being made redundant. • Libraries Plus are good at what they are offering such as Stay and Play, but they do not have the same resources as a Children’s Centre. • People do not feel that they want to go into a Library environment everyday. • Don’t always want to be asked what wrong with their life. • There has been no impact by Spurgeons; they do not turn up to events. Service is very poor. • Need to review why Peoples attendances are so low to these Public Consultations. • The Public Consultations should have been held at the Children Centres- this makes it more inviting for people to attend. • You need to go to where the Users are for feedback. • Some people are frightened to go to these events. They do not want to be targeted. They need to be comfortable to be able to talk. • Spurgeons staff do not care or have enough knowledge to educate people. Need trained people. • Have to wait for age appropriate services – unfair! • To review venues- once a venue was full and everyone had to go to the venue down the road. This was great at getting new people to join; however, when the old venue was reopened the new people didn’t attend anymore. • Parents don’t feel that they can set up their own group- need insurance, toys, safeguarding issues, costs etc • Libraries need to be more user friendly. • Need a venue with a outdoor play area. • Some venues are far too expensive to use. • It is important to consider disability access for wheelchair users and hearing loop for impaired people.
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• Need confidential area where [people can ask for advice. • People need support at home.
Question 2: HOW CAN WE MAKE THE PROPOSAL BETTER? East Northamptonshire (Rushden): - Pemberton Centre • Find out most popular/attended sessions and keep these ones going. Use extra budget to hire staff for home visits instead. • Do a targeted questionnaire 2 nd meeting to all known attendees of regular centre services about how important it is to them. A lot of Parents are very passionate about maintaining current staff and services. Maybe the Council should attend these meetings to gauge support. • Has there been any thought regarding incorporating the ‘Five to Thrive’ approach across services in libraries or Children Centres? • Working with Professional services such as Early Help for Disabled Children, Portage, SEN Early Years to structure support maybe beneficial. • Parents should be a key consideration in all planning. • Stay and Play- I imagine will go in the Rushden area. The library is too small and as it will still be open publically there will be no place for it. • As long as Parents have a detailed timetable to what services are available. Kettering: Ise Valley Pavilion Community Centre • Throughout the year to access natural spaces like us at Equatta to promote wellbeing and family unity. • Support for those that do not fall within the ‘Target’ Groups. • Can Children Centre be offered free of charge to community groups. • Universal services should not be closed until alternatives are set up- whether by library and or A4C. • Spending time at the centres or looking at documents eg sign in to show where and how the centres are being used. • Keep the sensory play for all would make sense, otherwise all the equipment will go to waste. • Health visitors to work more closely with parents- some my not be defined as ‘vulnerable’ dues to health visitors’ ‘time constraints. • Asking more Parents to volunteer or recruiting volunteers from the retired community. Northampton North / West: Duston Community Centre • Suggestion box/book • Developing working partnership with health and Children’s Centres. Joint delivery and Parenting groups? • Ensure local community organisations and groups are art of the structure so that centre services are adequate for local families and services are duplicated. • Giving Children centres services in the Camrose area as they used to be. Families are already unsettled following the change of provider and do not feel listened to. They cannot access what they used to. Work more closely with Camrose that still has a presence with these Families. Restore services in Kings Heath. • Make sure there are more groups for a varied age range. • Upton Parents will not engage with services on other sites. Page 19 of 38
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• Appreciate the need for change and to make services more effective with same resources. But, please, please listen carefully to Families, and act on what they say. If you can’t do what they ask, tell them why not. • Travelling between centres is not possible for many people. There are no bus services between the centres. • Concerns about isolation of Parents at Upton Meadows • Will Parents engage? Will they travel? Wellingborough: Croyland Children’s Centre • I think they should do groups for Mums/Dads up to 25, also a group for Mums and Dads for over 30’s. • Why do the powers that be think it’s more important to visit Mums at home? To the detriment of the groups. • Croyland Children’s Centre is a crucial resource centre for the community, regardless of your background. It’s provided for everyone. There were already staff that went out to peoples Families. • Libraries should not be used for groups as anyone can use that area, so you’re putting young Children at major risk of harm. • Groups should not be 0-5’s as it’s dangerous for young babies being at risk of harm. • Changing venues? Are these going to be safeguarded? • More and more things are being taken away from those deemed not to be “needy”. More people will fall into that bracket now you’re removing services. • Library? These are not safe or suitable! Noise problems, not being welcomed because your Child wants to make noise and be active! • The Library is not a child friendly environment. Use the purpose built sites for playtime. • It’s disappointing that universal services are being cut back. • It is not always possible to recognise a need until someone has accessed services overtime and can gain your trust. • If money is not an issue why has staff had to reapply for their jobs? • Libraries are not suitable venues. It is not fair on people who want a quiet place to go to read or study. • More groups/targeted groups may be a drop in coffee morning once a month for Families in need. • To keep Croyland Centre open as it’s is central to the community. • Reinstate the groups that were being used. The ones left are over crowded and dangerous with babies and older Children. • The freedom of a service and safe environment won’t be found in any library for any infant/child/toddler. • Parent mixing with other Parents is just as important as Children socialising. • Advertise more to encourage attendance. • Please, please provide more stay and play sessions. They are extremely important to a young Childs development, both physically and mentally. They are also a very important support group to Parents even if they don’t realise it at the time. • Baby massage? Ideal group, informative- why has it stopped?
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• Library- Rhyme time needs to be age appropriate again, and run by member of staff and not relied on by Parents. • Libraries are not suitable, not safe and no exercise. In 10 years you’ll be moaning about obesity. • Baby massage should be available for all. • Advertise your groups. • Parents want a safe environment to take their Children to. A place that understands Children’s needs. Plus- a place where Parents can meet and socialise. Talk about concerns, problems, and achievements! • Sessions are too generic. Staff are fab but overstretched. Need to cater for relevant ages. • Next time bring the decision makers. No- one has confidence. Anything will happen as a result of this consultation. • Reinstate HV at each stay and play. It took me 4 weeks to get my baby weighed (so 8 weeks between weigh-in due to overcrowding). Daventry : Brixworth Primary School • Limited proposals- though are realistic and workable. Some will depend on the details of the provision to be delivered. East Northamptonshire: The Thrapston Plaza • Give more transparency re services providers and deliverability of services going forward. • Keep as it is- employ more qualified staff • Keep Centre open familiarity is important for Parents and Children • Be honest
Question 3: WILL THIS RESULT IN CHILDREN CENTRES SERVICES PROVIDING THE RIGHT SERVICE, IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME? East Northamptonshire (Rushden): - Pemberton Centre • The Children’s Centre and its staff are a big part of our lives as Families- as services reduce universally I can only imagine there will be eventually more needy Families as they have no support from other Parents. • What is already in place isn’t broken so doesn’t need changing. • Extra Budget= extra home visit staff. Have a phone on desks directed to one support worker to direct calls in opening hours to Parents needing support. • Universal services from the base of the ‘triangle structure’ without them- will these ‘target families’ be identified? • Possibly in the long term, when it is seen as the norm currently NO. All Parents see a cut in vital services to its points when they are needed the most. The potential loss of staff friends through redundancy. • All Parents need the same support in Parenting. All Children need the same services. Universal support is the key. • You risk hitting targeted support and losing Universal offer on Ofsted. How does Ofsted know what is needed at our local level? • Similar situations – no small talk etc. The centre staff are amazing- is cutting jobs the right way to go? Page 21 of 38
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Kettering: Ise Valley Pavilion Community Centre • The Dads Group at Desborough ran on a Saturday morning once a month. This has now been cut. CTK Church on the Ise Lodge provides a group but one in Desborough/ Rothwell would be more convenient. • As an early baby, my eldest so hugely benefitted from the sensory groups. He could play in a safe environment without the risk of being trampled by larger children due to his size. • Play services are popular and accesses to them are provided for. With Sensory Play, imaginative play during term time and stay and play during the holiday. These services encourage young Children to play and socialise with many types of people allowing a better and more informed tolerance at a younger age. Play services also provide a place for Parents to meet and make friends. Without these services including the now cut ‘Desborough Dads Group’ I would have felt quite isolated when finding other Parent s with Children of a similar age to interact and form relationships with. • These help Parents to know others in the same position and to relay help and advice to each other. • Stay and Play. Tea and toast, wiggle and jiggle- why have these stopped? Stay and play is going well. Please do not stop this. • Libraries are a good idea and will work for most Families, but what about those that have Children with special needs who need solitary help? Northampton North / West: Duston Community Centre • This centre was well supported with activities for all. Parents use Centre to meet people and boost confidence. • I think that if groups at varied ages aren’t brought back Surestart will suffer and this would be a shame. • Other Parents providing support for other Parents? Experience? Skills? Qualifications? • All centres should have core offer opening times between 9-3pm. Hubs would have extended opening hours. • Be aware of all local services including faith groups, Mums and Tots. • Although not an ‘emergency service’ make sure workers can make it clear to Families when they can go outside of opening times, and that source is one they feel they can trust and feel comfortable accessing. • No Families have come to be dependant on a ‘team’ of trusted people, who they want to access as and when they need to. Reducing the hours of access will lead to some to some being isolated or not reaching is convenient for them, in their local area with trusted, familiar faces. One shoe does not fit all. Wellingborough: Croyland Children’s Centre • Everyone crammed into the same facility there is No parking. • Service will be provided for those in desperate need which is good but how about putting more focus on those without needs before they do start suffering issues. • Ultimately we want our kids to develop. Group sessions are vital and help prepare them for the world list to Parents. • I travel a 40 minute round trip every Wednesday from Northampton NN3 area because Croyland offer facilities for free that are unavailable or available at a cost in my area. Northampton is largely Library plus only and the facilities are not clean/appropriate or stimulating.
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• I think you’re going to remove so much from general Parents that the levels at Children ‘in need’ is going to increase massively. • To make sure all School are safe e.g. Croyland had a password to get out, now it’s been stopped and anyone could just walk away with a kid. • Although, I was assured it won’t happen- breast friends has already had to move to a room unsuitable to accommodate another group. • I think there is a fine line in this, I don’t think or feel that Libraries are the right or a safe place. The Children Centres do provide the safe place and fun and allow people to grow and go from strength to strength and access things they may have not through was possible. • I’ve used Croyland Centre for breast feeding group, massage group, baby stay and play with midwife weighing sessions and then progressed to the older sessions- stay and play and mini gym. All but one of these groups have gone! These groups were extremely helpful. I also came here for carer advice! • I don’t think the venue is the issues, it’s the services offered at the venue that’s the problem. Each group needs to be made smaller, 0-walkers for example would be much better. • I want to feel confident that as my Child grows – the play environment will grow with her- at the moment there is too much of an age range trying to use the same space. It does not work. • As a Parent most of the advice I have received is from other Parents by encouraging Parents to attend these groups get hem socially active, more informal and potentially less need for home visits therefore cost saving. • Group sessions must be age relevant i.e. 0-12 months 1-3 etc. Young Children become overwhelmed. Also unsafe toys etc. • Views on using Library not good. There can’t be any messy play or physical play and for younger Children sitting quietly and doing an activity won’t work. • I probably would have got depressed at home with my daughter if I didn’t have the groups to go to. • The Library isn’t Child friendly. They can easily go down the stairs, in the lift or just run amongst the rows of books. You would need to watch them constantly – 1 minute you take your eyes off them they move. • Why move groups to the library when the groups at Croyland Children Centre are just perfect! The centre has the space and facilities that are needed. • The staff at Croyland make this a place to feel safe. They gave me the confidence to read to my daughter aloud in public and to talk to other Mums. Classes ran by other Parents will not have that ability. • This was not broken! We’re being punished for the failures elsewhere. • Wellingborough library: Unsuitable venue, no sign in, no child limit, tiny lift/2 flight of stairs, unreliable sessions- time discrepancy and expectation to pay. • Encouraging Parents to start their own groups is wasting hands. Parents then get the “PI” risk. You need to offer groups for Parents. • Cannot just discuss venues. Must include service the two interlink. • I think that the proposal are put by people that don’t live in the community and know what Families need , and that they take away resources that are most valued and needed forcing groups to be overrun and too many cuts. People need this service as it has been a big help to myself and my
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Family. Without my Family support workers help I could never have left my husband to give my girls a better life, and to do courses to better my life. Daventry: Brixworth Primary School • Depends on the detail, potential exists, concerns over loss of and have outdoor activity potential. • Co-existence with existing library/community centre must be proactively and carefully managed. East Northamptonshire: The Thrapston Plaza • I don’t have confidence then there will be sufficient flexible sensitive services • The proposals are good in theory. Still very concerned it will not reach all Families and will make them feel isolated. • The proposals sound good in principle, but conclusions can’t be drawn until the changes are in place and working.
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Appendix ii) Questionnaire Children’s Centre Consultation
Have your say..... We are proposing to make some changes to the opening hours of some Children’s Centres, and in five cases, to the venues being used for targeted Children’s Centre services. Earlier this year our new model of delivering Children’s Centres came into effect and many of the services previously found in Children’s Centres – things like things like information, advice and guidance and activities like Stories, Songs and Rhymes - are now delivered from our 36 libraries around the county, some of which can be accessed 7 days a week, and all of which are open on Saturdays and Sundays. The targeted services – interventions to help families that are not coping as well as most – have still been using all the of Centre buildings that you will know, but now we and our providers would like to fully realise our ambition to deliver a more effective and efficient service that delivers real value for money. Our providers want to spend much more time with families and children in and nearer to their homes and this means that they want to deliver less in the Children’s Centre buildings. To achieve this we propose to change the hours that some buildings are open , and to move services to entirely new venues in a very small number of cases. In every area at least one Centre will be open full-time as it is currently; in some cases there will two or more such Centres. Almost all the other Centres will still be used for targeted Children’s Centre services as well as for health visitors and midwife appointments and drop-ins and for JobCentre Plus advice sessions, but for less hours each week. We will be looking at how the remaining time in each of these centres can be used to benefit the community should theses changes be approved in the New Year. In five cases – Highfield (Wellingborough); Nene Lakes in Earls Barton (Wellingborough); Manor (Raunds); Brixworth (Daventry); and Roade (South Northamptonshire) – our providers have suggested that they should operate from alternative venues, normally buildings in the heart of the communities that they are intended to serve. The buildings listed will therefore be available full-time for alternate uses. To find out just what the changes in your area are going to be, please take a minute or two to read our consultation document, where the effect in each area is described alongside more detail of what children’s centres services are and what they aim to achieve. We would like to know what you think of these changes, and so this consultation will run from Friday 7 th November to Friday 19 th December 2014 . Please note that it will not be possible to consider the view of questionnaires received after Friday 19th December 2014.
1 Which area of the county would you like to comment upon? ESSENTIAL TO ANSWER Please note that if you would like to comment upon more than one area of the county, you will need to complete the questionnaire for each. Daventry East Northamptonshire Kettering Northampton Central (areas currently covered by Gloucester Nursery, Spring Lane and Vernon Terrace Children’s Centres)
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Northampton East (areas currently covered by Abington, Blackthorn, Ecton Brook, Headlands and Thorplands Children’s Centres) Northampton North (areas currently covered by Kingsthorpe, Parklands and Penfold Children’s Centres) Northampton West (areas currently covered by Camrose, Duston, Hardingstone, Hunsbury and Upton Meadows Children’s Centres) South Northamptonshire Wellingborough
2 Which of the following best describes your main interest in this area? Please tick (or x) one option only. ESSENTIAL TO ANSWER I am a current or prospective parent / carer of a child under 5 and I live in this area. Please go to question 3 . I live, work or volunteer in this area . Please go directly to question 5. The work of the Children’s Centres in this area impacts on the service in which I work. Please go directly to question 5 . I have a role which involves representing the view of a particular group of people. Please go directly to question 5. Other (please specify below.) Please go directly to questi on 5.
CHILDREN’S CENTRE USAGE 3 Have you used any of the Children’s Centre Services in the past six months – this may have been in one of the Centres, or in the library. Yes Please go on to Question 5. No Please complete Question 4.
CHILDREN’S CENTRE USAGE 4 Why do you not currently attend Children’s Centre services in the area you selected in question 1? Please tick all options that apply. The types of services currently available do not meet my needs. The times of the current services do not meet my needs. The current venues are not easily accessible for me I have no need for targeted Children’s Centre services. I attend Children’s Centre Services in another part of the county (please state where below).
Other (please specify below)
IMPACT OF PROPOSED CHANGES 5 We believe that the proposed changes and the increase in outreach and home visiting will considerably improve access to our targeted services, which are interventions that specifically help families and children that need extra support. Do you agree? ESSENTIAL TO ANSWER
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Yes No Don’t Know. If ‘no’ please explain why.
6 Do you have any ideas or thoughts about other things we could do to help children and families living in this area to access our targeted services? If so, please tell us about them below.
IMPACT OF PROPOSED CHANGES 7 We know that people can be affected by changes differently. Do you think that the changes described will have a negative impact on some people because of their race or ethnicity; age; disability; pregnancy and maternity; religion or belief; gender / gender identity; sexual orientation; or rural isolation? Please tick one option only. ESSENTIAL TO ANSWER Yes ( Please go to question 8) No ( Please go to question 10) Don’t know 8 Please tell us why you think people you think will be negatively affected, and also how you think they will be negatively affected. ESSENTIAL TO ANSWER Because they are younger or older Because they are disabled Because of their gender Because they are transgender Because they are married, in a civil partnership, or because they are unmarried Because they are pregnant or have had a baby in the past 6 months Because of their race or ethnicity Because of their religion or belief Because they live in the countryside and are iso lated Because they are gay, lesbian or bi -sexual Please tell us in what way they will be affected below.
9 What support or help do you think we could offer to these people to help them to access the services in our proposed new model, or what could we do differently to help?
10 Do you have any further comments or suggestions relating to any of our proposed changes?
EQUALITY MONITORING Please only complete this section if you are responding as an individual. We collect this information to build up an accurate understanding of the communities that we serve so that services and policies can be delivered to meet the needs of everybody. Please feel free to leave questions which you do not wish to answer. All of the information gathered in this questionnaire is Page 27 of 38
Children’s Centre Venues Consultation Analysis December 2014 v.1 confidential. 11 Are you happy to provide your demographic monitoring details? ESSENTIAL TO ANSWER Yes ( Please go to question 12) No ( Please go to the end of the questionnaire) 12 Please describe your gender identity. Please tick one box only. Male Female Prefer not to say. 13 Is your gender identity the same as the gender you were assigned at birth? Please tick one box only. Yes No Prefer not to say 14 Are you currently pregnant or have you had a baby in the last 6 months? Please tick one box only. Yes No Prefer not to say 15 How old are you? 0 to 9 30 to 49 75 + 10 to 19 50 to 64 Prefer not to say 20 to 29 65 to 74 16 Do you have a disability? Please tick one box only. Yes No Prefer not to say 17 If Yes, please tick the appropriate box(es). Mental Health Physical Disability Hearing Impairment Learning Disability Sight Impairment Prefer not to say Other (please specify below)
18 What is your religion or belief? Please tick one box only. None Muslim Christian Sikh Hindu Buddhist Jewish Prefer not to say Other (please specify below)
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19 How would you describe your ethnic origin? Please tick one box only. White British Pakistani White Irish Bangladeshi White Gypsy or Traveller Chinese Other White Background Other Asian Background White & Black Caribbean Caribbean White & Black African African White & Asian Other Black Background Other Mixed / multiple background Prefer not to say Indian Other (please specify below)
20 If you are 16 or over, which of the following options best describes how you think of yourself? Please tick one box only. Bisexual Transgender Gay man Heterosexual Gay woman / lesbian Prefer not to say Other (please specify below)
Thank you for completing the survey. Please now post it to the address below ensuring that it reaches us by Friday 19 th December 2014: Early Help & Prevention, Samita Shah, Room 140, County Hall, Northampton, NN1 1AY.
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Appendix ii) Response from Healthwatch Northamptonshire
Proposed Changes to the Opening Hours and Venues of Children’s Report title: Centres in Northamptonshire
Author: Kate Holt
Date: 17 December 2014
Version: Version 3.0
“Children's centres are a key resource in communities. They give us the opportunity to work with children and families in the context of a local community and ensure we support all families regardless of background or situation”. 5
“Our children's and family centres give parenting advice, a safe space for families to play and the chance to learn new skills, subjects and information. The centres also help practically, with things like debt and housing difficulties, and offer self-help or family therapy for problems such as sexual abuse, domestic violence and anti-social behaviour” 6.
Summary
Northamptonshire County Council (NCC), Action for Children and Spurgeons are ‘proposing to make changes to the opening hours and venues’ 7 at children’s centres across Northamptonshire. Reducing the hours at 25 venues and moving children’s centre services completely from 5 venues:
• Highfield, Wellingborough • Manor, Raunds • Nene Lakes, Earls Barton • Brixworth, Daventry • Roade, South Northamptonshire
The £10 million Children’s Centres contract was awarded earlier this year. NCC has declined to share the contract details with Healthwatch Northamptonshire (HWN) when requested. HWN is taking advice from Healthwatch England on this aspect and has also made a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
5 Spurgeons website December 2014 6 Action for Children website December 2014 7 Consultation on changes to Children’s Centre venues November 2014 7 Consultation on changes to Children’s Centre venues November 2014 Page 30 of 38
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Background
• the consultation is running from 7 November to the 19 December. NCC organised 10 public consultation events across the county, one in each area
• there are currently 22,563 children under 5 accessing children’s centres 8 out of a population of c171,700 children and young people 9 and 16.6% of children under the age of 16 living in poverty in Northamptonshire 10
• the chosen providers are: Library Plus, Action for Children and Spurgeons
• Library Plus delivers universal 11 services from 36 sites around the county
• Action for Children deliver early help and targeted children’s centre services across Kettering, Wellingborough, Daventry, South Northants, Northampton East and Northampton Central
• Spurgeons are contracted for East Northants, Northampton North and Northampton West. Both organisations are registered charities
• this model of delivery was agreed in 2013 following consultation
• the awarded contracts are for 2 years, 8 months with two 12 month options to extend
The value of the lots out to tender originally were:
1. Corby £1,139,685.53 (not included in this consultation) 2. Daventry £832,556.08 3. East Northants £977,788.33 4. Kettering £ 1,342,819.97 5. Northampton Central £1,006,823.77 6. Northampton East £1,249,318.13 7. Northampton North £747,335.32 8. Northampton West £985,212.67 9. South Northamptonshire £655,685.02 10. Wellingborough £1,241,886.18
8 Northamptonshire Thresholds and Pathways – Making Children Safer - May 2014 9 Northamptonshire Thresholds and Pathways – Making Children Safer - May 2014 10 Child Health Profile March 2014 Public Health England 11 Children, young people and families generally progressing well and have no additional needs – Northamptonshire Thresholds and Pathways – Making Children Safer – May 2014
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The total value of the contract is £9,039,425.47 (minus Corby)
• HWN sent out the consultation information to all volunteers on the 11 and 13 November and it was also included in the HWN November newsletter to a wider audience of 1,700 individuals and organisations and placed on our website
• HWN volunteers and staff attended the public meetings in:
- Northampton (Duston) 19 November - Wellingborough (Croyland) 20 November - Daventry (Long Buckby) 21 November - Brixworth 26 November - Northampton (Blackthorn) 27 Nov - East Northants (Thrapston) 28 Nov
• two emails were also sent in to HWN expressing concerns - one from a member of the public and one from Andy Sawford MP for Corby and East Northamptonshire in his weekly newsletter
Concerns and comments raised by people at the public consultation events are included as appendix 1.
• a central concern expressed by parents, HWN staff and volunteers attending the consultation meetings and emails received is that libraries cannot fulfil the same function as children’s centres. There is a strong view that libraries are not designed for the type of activity delivered at children’s centres and the noise this could generate. Space is highlighted as an issue and the absence of outdoor space. For example, Kingsthorpe Library, Northampton is in one main room. There is no opportunity for privacy or confidential one to one meetings. The toilet is located behind a ‘staff only’ sign and there are no baby changing facilities. There is a clear concern about the appropriateness of the library environment to ‘clearly identify the different levels of needs’ 12 and offer ‘advice/support’
• the Library Plus service is currently recruiting volunteers as ‘Parent Champions’, ‘Rhymetime Leaders’ and ‘Under 5’s Volunteer Activity Leader/Helpers’ to reach out to parents/carers of children under 5 to provide advice, information and support and to introduce Children’s Centres 13
• HWN has asked NCC/Library Plus several questions regarding this and is currently awaiting a response. All questions asked by HWN to NCC are included at appendix 2
• HWN was also told by a member of the public that libraries cancel events at short notice due to volunteer capacity
12 Northamptonshire Thresholds and Pathways – Making Children Safer - May 2014 13 Library Plus volunteer needed brochure Page 32 of 38
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• according to one comment received from a parent by HWN, it would appear that services have already been cut in some areas as one parent said “Now that there is not much happening at the centre there is not much to encourage people to go there. Before they would come to a class e.g. Stay and Play and develop good relationships with the staff over time, which would build up trust and mean the parents would open up about things. Now there is nothing to encourage people to go to the centre to talk to the support workers because there isn’t much happening there”
• concerns have also been raised that even though some universal services will remain at children’s centres stigmatisation will still occur for those parents needing additional support and discourage them from attending. The valuable peer support between different types of families will also no longer happen and could lead to more isolation for those needing additional support
• the consultation states that by changing opening times and venues that the buildings can then be used ‘perhaps by a different service’. This implies that no research has been done into who may want to use the buildings that the children’s centre vacates and if the county council is still responsible for the building as no cost savings have been mentioned in the consultation document
• HWN has concerns with the content of the consultation document as there is not enough information to enable HWN to make an informed response. For example, Action for Children and the universal services such as midwifery and health visiting will use the buildings at Long Buckby and Woodford Halse on a reduced timetable. There is no mention of by how many hours this service will be reduced by. Further, the consultation documents states that ‘Action for Children and Spurgeons will also deliver services at additional community venues, based on local circumstances and needs’. There is no mention of what those local circumstances and needs might be and how they will assess and meet local circumstances and needs or how many hours will be available in each locality for this
• ‘Action for Children and Spurgeons will visit more children and families in their homes where this is the best way to support them’. There is no reference to the number of families who may be visited in their own homes or if this is the way that these families want to be supported. There is also no mention of the number of hours available to these families, the time spent travelling by staff, the travel costs involved in doing this or the personal risks to staff. At one of the consultation meetings, it was suggested by a couple of people that a significant number of families who would have a particular need for the service would feel very uncomfortable about home visits, and therefore might stop accessing the service altogether if they were not able to visit a Children’s Centre
• the online consultation does not allow for a general response as respondents wishing to comment on all proposed changes for each area would need to input comments ten times Page 33 of 38
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Conclusion
• it is good that NCC has held ten public consultation events across Northamptonshire with some venues and times attracting more people than others. One comment received regarding the event at Thrapston was that members of the public felt that the event and consultation had not been widely promoted and the timing, at 5.30 p.m. was not a good time for people with children and they felt that the consultation meetings should have been held in the children’s centres.
• as with the previous closure of Daventry East Children’s Centre, the information provided for consultation has not been sufficiently detailed e.g. there will be reductions in hours, but no precise detail of the number of hours, there will be targeted interventions but no detail, there will be other locations but no detail e.g. when, frequency, content etc.
• it is difficult for HWN to support the proposed changes given the limited information available and in the context of the feedback received
• as the total children’s centre contract was over £9million (minus Corby), it would seem reasonable that more detail should be given to the public to enable a more robust discussion on the service provision for Northamptonshire residents
Recommendations:
• Healthwatch Northamptonshire submits this papers to NCC as our response to the consultation registering concern at the lack of clear information to enable HWN to be confident that the changed arrangement will deliver improved services for children and families
• Healthwatch Northamptonshire should plan to assess the impact of the proposals, particularly in relation to the use of Libraries for the delivery and effectiveness of universal services, with particular emphasis on safeguarding and the use of volunteers to deliver the services
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Appendix 1
Concerns raised at public meetings:
• not enough activities currently provided for mobile toddlers in libraries
• if only targeting vulnerable families there will not be different types of families mixing and the valuable mixing of families and organic peer support will no longer happen
• some families (often the harder to reach families) will not accept home visits as they may be cautious of services
• a head teacher has said that previously there had been a very good relationship with the children’s centre but since Spurgeons had taken over it was not as good and communication was poor
• restructuring of staff teams will cause upset to some families
• reducing opening times at some children’s centres families will have reduced access to support and someone they can trust
• issues around confidentiality in libraries
• general library services will be adversely impacted e.g. people go there to quietly read and research
• new mothers with post natal depression may go unnoticed in a library setting
• libraries are not suitable for toddlers and small children to run around in
• local libraries often cancel events at the last minute
• support for young children and their families is vital for the future
• children’s centres have been a good hub
• more difficult for people to get to the library and hard to find out when classes are on, i.e. not well advertised online, etc.
• activities e.g. Stay and Play helped to develop relationships with staff overtime, now there is nothing to encourage people to go to the centre to talk to support workers
• people don’t have the incentive to leave their houses and can be socially isolated, especially if they are depressed
• the set up of libraries means people are less likely to open up
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Appendix 2
Q: Is it possible to have a copy of the contract with Spurgeons and Action for Children?
A: I am not able to share this document.
Q: If not, can you please clarify the 30 hours of support offered by the children’s centres that you mentioned? Is this per locality, per centre? More for areas of deprivation, local needs?
A: The specification required the Children’s Centre provider to make building space available for health services for 30 hours per week in each cluster. This figure was based on information we received about services prior to the tendering. Health services, including midwifery and health visiting have been, and continue to be, consulted about how and where they want to use those 30 hours within each cluster and the pattern of use will depend on local need. When making decisions about proposed reductions in opening hours the providers have taken account of the need to preserve this service as we believe it is extremely important to include a universal element in the provision in order to help prevent stigmatisation of the Children’s Centre buildings.
Q: Also, with the Library Plus service, they are recruiting volunteers as ‘parent champions’ to reach out to parents/carers of children under 5 to provide advice, information and support and to introduce Children’s Centres. How is this done? What is the referral process? How are volunteers trained to identify parents needing additional support?
Similarly for the volunteer role of ‘Rhymetime Leader’? How will they be supported by Library/Children’s Centre staff as mentioned in the library volunteers needed brochure? Similarly the Under 5’s Activity Leader/Helper?
How well trained are these volunteers in safeguarding issues compared to professionally trained children’s centre staff? How well does the referral process work as the service is already live?
A: The Library Service has a well-established volunteering programme and I think it is best if they give you the detail of their activity. I have asked them to supply me with some answers which I will forward on to you.
Q: The consultation document mentions reduced hours for the centres but does not give any specifics e.g. by how many?
A: The providers have not yet specified the exact detail here. It will vary from centre to centre and will depend on the services that they need to deliver within each locality. This final detail with be discussed with the Advisory Boards and Parent Forums to ensure that a pattern is created that meets local need. These discussions cannot be held until a decision is made that the proposals can go ahead.
Q: There is also the mention of services delivered at additional community venues based on local circumstances and need. What are those local circumstances and need?
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It will vary from area to area. For example a large rural area will need to use community venues out in villages; an area with a large multi-ethnic population may need to use a building that a particular cultural group are comfortable with; they may need to use a venue with particular facilities for specific services e.g. outdoor play.
Q: Have these already been identified?
A: A number of venues have been identified already and some are named in the consultation document. Further venues will be identified in consultation with the Parent Forum and other local reference groups and may vary throughout the year as different services are developed.
Q: If no local needs are identified does that mean a reduction in hours for that locality? If not, where will the additional hours go? How will this affect staffing levels?
A: Every centre will be delivering services according to the needs of its locality. It may well be that in some compact urban areas there will be less need to deliver outreach activity as all parents can easily access the Centre and this has already been reflected in the proposals.
The localities are already funded through a fair and equitable funding methodology which targets more funding at the areas where there is the greatest need so we already expect to see higher staffing levels and more services in certain areas and the current proposals will have no impact on that except that the existing resources will be used more efficiently and effectively.
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