The Board considered the Kent County Council’s (KCC) consultation document ‘Shaping the Future of Children’s Centres in Kent.  The consultation would run until 4 October. A corporate Council response would be sent to KCC putting together the collected views from Members. The proposal aims were to: deliver savings on at least £1.5 million; protect services which improved health, education and social care; continue to offer parents and expectant parents a choice about which Centre they used; ensure support was given to those children and families who needed it most; and improve co-ordination and access to a range of services for families with children aged 0 -11 where at least one child in the family is under five years old.

There were currently seven centres operating in the Sevenoaks District. KCC would be looking to align the different areas around the Clinical Commissioning Group areas for Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley and for West Kent.

Members were advised that the figures provided within the document were from October 2011 to September 2012. It was felt that the projections provided needed further investigation as they did not correctly forecast population increases for the District.  It was felt that the figures showed the success of the Children’s Centres in this District with relatively high numbers of attendance and working with the correct age ranges, rather than demonstrating evidence for closure or re-aligning centres.

Members were concerned that the figures provided for the use of libraries did not add up to 100% and that there were also inconsistencies with other figures. The Community Planning and Projects Officer advised that the figures were provided by KCC.

Members raised concerns that the figures related to 2011/12 and that no allowance had been made for any new developments. There were particular concerns in respect of population growth in Dunton Green and the restriction of services.  If Children’s Centres were to be linked then this would also affect many parents who travelled on public transport. There would be an increase in time and cost to many parents. Concerns were also raised over the number of primary schools and that there would not be enough places in the existing primary schools for the growing number of children in the District, which also provided evidence of population growth in the District.

Members felt that the Children’s Centres provided the vital skills that children needed to learn before starting at primary school and essential support for new parents. This was particularly important in deprived and isolated areas. Concerns were also raised that links to other centres would be taken though libraries. It was suggested that the CCGs should work with libraries, the HERO service and Sevenoaks District Housing team and the new gateway to include more liaison with Children’s centres.

The Health and Communities Manager brought Members attention to the usage summary of Children’s Centres in the District. It was felt that it the figures in red proved the Children’s centres were effective.

Action 1: The Health and Communities Manger will map the figures against the latest census data to show the population growth.

It was felt that Children’s Centres were valuable to families of ethnic minority populations to provide them with advice for registering with a doctor and helping them to have a support network.

The Community Planning and Projects officer would feed these comments back into the survey as part of a corporate response.