Agenda item

The Board considered a report of the Assistant Chief Executive that provided background information relating to the presentation on the Children’s Centre Review consultation process. A presentation was given by the Head of Children’s Services (for copy of report and slides, see file of minutes).

The Head of Children’s Services reported that the public consultation ran for 12 weeks from 31 July to 23 October 2014, which was extended due to school holidays. The two proposals consulted on were the community delivery model, putting services closer to families and the 15 from 43 Children’s Centres it was proposed to retain.

In response to a question from Councillor A Bonner regarding evaluating responses from those that presently do not use the Children’s Centres, the Head of Children’s Services advised that the feedback would differentiate and reflect between users and non users.

Councillor R Bell commented that he would be interested to see the feedback regarding access in rural areas. The Head of Children’s Services advised that they were aware of the rural issues and when they present the analysis, emphasis would be given on transport and outreach.

The Head of Children’s Services responded to a question from Councillor D Boyes regarding the methodology and if equal weight would be given to responses, she advised that they would be ranked by a traffic light system and the decision would be pragmatic and balanced with the strength of public feeling.

Councillor Lethbridge commented that Woodhouse Close had multiple deprivation issues and asked for assurances on the future of that building and what services would be there. The Head of Children’s Services advised that information on this would be available shortly. She pointed out that other Authorities were closing centres whereas Durham were finding suitable uses for buildings and services would still be provided.

Councillor A Hopgood agreed that the consultation had been extremely robust and commented that she was awaiting feedback to compare the outcome of the consultation to the original report.

Resolved:

That the information contained in the report be noted.