Update on Childrens Centre Services

Local Area Consultations

In November, Cabinet Member Frances Nicholson said the Council would give people more chance to have a say before decisions are taken about individual Childrens Centres. Following the message from ate !ovell in mid"#anuary, this is a further update on how we will be doing this. Firstly, as I am now personally involved in this work, Id like to reiterate the thinking behind it. $he Council is committed to keep the range of delivery options open for Childrens Centre %ervices. $hat includes the e&isting Childrens Centres themselves and the '() or so other *points of delivery across the County. %omerset is geographically large and comple&+ we believe we need a broad range of options if we are to do this well. Childrens Centres need to be a part of our ,arly -elp offer . and a very important part of that offer. $he Council has already decided to organise around / *-ubs across the County that will use e&isting Childrens Centres+ the other Childrens Centres will be amongst the *%pokes that connect with those -ubs and provide services on the front line. 0f the (' e&isting Childrens Centres, for 12 there are no changes proposed, though some will become -ubs and some may grow to provide even more services. 3hatever you may have read or heard in the media, we are committed to increasing our early offer to families and will use not only Childrens Centre sites, but an increased number of outreach workers as well . at least 2) of them. 3e will fund those new outreach arrangements by changing how we use the Childrens Centre buildings. 0utreach is an important strand of our work and allows us to work with families who either do not live near enough to a Childrens Centre to go to it or cannot do so for other reasons. 3e will take our services to their communities and homes.

Giving people their say

$he ne&t step is to give people the chance to have their say on our plans.$hat is now underway. '4 centres were originally highlighted for change and we are committed to giving people a chance to share their views before making decisions about these individual centres. -ow we approach this needs to be appropriate and proportionate to any proposed change. 5lease note6 There will be no proposals to close Childrens Centres . %ervices will continue to be provided in the communities where they are found now, through the current Childrens Centre buildings and other suitable venues. 3e have now been able to speak to most of the relevant interested parties, notably schools, about different ways of doing things.

For at least eleven of the centres, our proposals mean effectively no change to the services available. In fact, the most likely change is that there will be some additional services made available as we develop our ,arly -elp offer. In these cases we are holding two drop"in meetings at or near the centres to talk this through, and importantly ask what e&tra help and support people think is needed in their community. $his is the approach being taken for the following centres6 %treet, $he 0ctopus 78urnham on %ea9, 3oolavington, ,astover 78ridgwater9, $he !evels 7!angport9, #igsaw 7:eovil9, ;ulverton, Nether %towey, <shlands 7Crewkerne9, 3ells and Fledglings 7$aunton9 8y the end of February we will have held these drop"ins in eight of these centres and will have spoken to at least eleven to get this moving. 5roposals for the remaining seven centres will become clearer over the ne&t couple of weeks. $here will be appropriate opportunities for people to comment on these proposals. <ny necessary consultations will begin in March and details will be publicised. Please remember there will be no proposals to close Childrens Centres . %ervices will continue to be provided in the communities where they are found now, through the current Childrens centre building and other suitable venues. 5eter !ewis Interim irector o! Childrens Services