Closure of Childrens Centres - Call-in Scrutiny Meeting

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Permalink Reply by Karen Alexander on June 9, 2011 at 15:27

As promised, here is the decision in full:-

The Chair MOVED a motion that the decision taken by the Cabinet Member on Children’s Centres was inside the Council’s policy and budget framework and that further action should be taken. This was unanimously agreed.

RESOLVED

1a. That the decision taken by the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services on Children’s Centres in Haringey on 18th May was inside the Council’s policy and budget Framework and that further action should be taken.


The Chair MOVED a motion that the matter be referred back to the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services with the added recommendation that the Cabinet Member requests that the Leader convenes a special Cabinet meeting for full consideration of the matter.

A vote was taken (7 members voted for the motion and 1 member abstained) and carried:

RESOLVED

2a. That the decision be referred back to the Cabinet Member as the decision taker to reconsider the decision before taking a final decision within 5 working days in light of the views expressed by the Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

2b. That the terms of the final decision of the Cabinet Member as in recommendation 2a. include the recommendation that a request that a special Cabinet meeting be convened within a further 5 working days.

2c. That the Cabinet Member and the Cabinet note the Overview & Scrutiny Committee’s reasons for referring the original decision on children’s centres back for reconsideration as set out below:

• Proposals made by schools to run children’s centres independently with reduced funding had not been fully assessed by the Council and should be reconsidered.
• The Committee expressed concerns that opportunities to engage with school headteachers, governors and representatives of the Haringey Children’s Centre Alliance at an early stage had not been taken. A committed engagement process between the Council and the Alliance should begin at the earliest opportunity.
• Consultation on the proposals had not been fully effective as the proposed model in the Cabinet Member’s signing report of 18th May 2011 differed significantly from the model proposed in February 2011.
• No reasonable responses had been provided by the Cabinet Member to the objections submitted by interested parties as part of the consultation.
• There was no evidence in the proposals that a proper risk assessment of the consequences for early intervention and child protection had been conducted when assessing the move from the current model of children’s centres to the proposed new model.
• Experts attending the committee had expressed concerns that the proposed structure was unworkable and would present safeguarding concerns.
• Experts who provided evidence and the Committee had expressed concerns about who would be responsible for the timely and effective identification of vulnerable children and children at risk under the new structure.
• The key concerns raised by interested groups and experts around the loss of integrated multi-disciplinary working and early intervention following the proposed centralisation of staff should be fully addressed during reconsideration of the decision.
• Children from the Coldfall Estate in Fortis Green who would normally attend the Northbank site and those who would attend the Highgate, Rokesly and Tower Gardens sites would be placed at greater risk due to the lack of provision in this area as a result of the proposals.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on June 9, 2011 at 16:16

The webcast of the Scrutiny meeting is now available online on Haringey's website. CLICK HERE for the direct link. If it doesn't work, use this link  - and click on the heading in blue "Overview and Scrutiny Committee"

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I was even more impressed than I expected with the sheer quality and overewhelming logic of the arguments from the heads and governors who spoke. We all hope the "cabinet" now make a sensible decision and change course.  

For Woody Allen fans, there's a nice Marshall McLuhan moment when my partner Cllr Zena Brabazon mentioned that Prof Jane Tunstill was in the gallery listening to the debate. (1hour 48 minutes into the meeting.)

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