Agenda item

Report of the Interim Head of Education (Delivery) (CS/23/21) presenting the annual return on the sufficiency of accessible, affordable, high quality early years and childcare places, attached.

RESOLVED

(a) that the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment Annual Report as a true reflection of the Council’s current position in relation to meeting its duty to secure sufficient, accessible, affordable, high quality early years and childcare places so far as is reasonably practicable, be agreed;

(b) that Members confirm the sufficiency duty has been met this year, as far as is reasonably practicable, noting the work currently taking place to tackle hotspots; and

(c) note that the Report will be published on the website.

(Councillors Biederman, Brazil and Wrigley attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item).

The Cabinet considered the Report of the Interim Head of Education (Delivery) (CS/23/21) which presented the annual return on the sufficiency of accessible, affordable, high quality early years and childcare places, circulated prior to the meeting in accordance with regulation 7(4) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.

The Cabinet noted it was a statutory duty for Local Authorities, set out in Section 6, of the 2006 Childcare Act,to secure sufficient, accessible, affordable, high quality early years and childcare places so far as is reasonably practicable. TheChildren and Families Act 2014 also required that a Report be prepared annually for Elected Members on how the Local Authority was meeting its duty to secure sufficient childcare. The Early Education and Childcare: Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities, set out that the local authority should make the Report available and accessible to parents.

Sufficiency was met through a variety of providers that included all types of schools, pre-schools, day nurseries, holiday clubs, breakfast clubs, after school clubs, childminders, etc.  These provisions were within the private, voluntary, independent, maintained and academy sectors.

The data analysis indicates that overall, there appeared to be sufficient early years and childcare provision within Devon, although the rural/urban spread of different types of provision varied and childcare sufficiency ‘hot spots’ (where there was concern about sufficiency) had been identified.

The overall number of providers had decreased by 47, which was mainly in the childminder sector and was broadly in line with national trends.

The Service recognise there was a lack of out of school provision in some areas of Devon and this was due to a number of factors impacting on this including recruitment, low levels of pay, working hours and lack of demand. Parents were opting to use informal arrangements due to costs due to the challenges of cost of living currently.

The percentage of two-year olds taking up a funded place (85.7%) remained higher than the national average of 72% and the percentage of three- and four-year olds taking up the early years funding at 96.1% remained higher than the national average of 92%. Children accessing their full universal entitlement and those taking up the extended (30 hours) entitlement had also increased.

There were a number of actions arising from the Report, as follows;

·       continue to assess sufficiency and identify hot spots through data analysis and discussion on the supply and demand of childcare with locality teams.

·       provide advice, guidance and support to providers to open or expand their businesses in areas where there was insufficient provision or more provision was required to meet the new entitlements.

·       use the provider self-update to inform knowledge of provision across the county.

·       continue the data review of out of school provision to ensure accurate data was held through the provider self-update and work with schools and providers to develop the wraparound offer in schools and holiday provision.

·       support providers through Early Years ONE Devon to maintain or become good or outstanding and work to build greater flexibility and affordability.

·       promote the take up of the entitlement and hours particularly for children with special educational needs and disabilities and those living in the most disadvantaged areas of Devon.

·       continue to survey parents regularly for greater insight into the demand for childcare .

·       use data from the Council’s Economy team to help inform demand for childcare as working patterns changed.

·       promote the use of the ‘unable to find childcare form’ to parents as feedback mechanism so the Council were informed when more places were needed.

·       promote childminding as a career, particularly in rural areas.

·       work with School Place Planning Team to establish Early Years Provision in new schools and request Section 106 for early years provision where appropriate.

·       promote the take-up of the Early Years Pupil Premium to parents and providers and highlight the benefits to the child and the setting.

·       as a PRIORITY, ensure that the implementation of the new entitlements (as detailed in the report) were delivered including sufficient provision for new funded entitlements and wraparound provision in all primary schools.

The matter having been debated and the other relevant factors (e.g. financial, sustainability and carbon impact, risk management, equality and legal considerations and alignment with the Council’s Strategic Plan) as set out in the Head of Service’s Report having been considered:

it was MOVED by Councillor Leadbetter, SECONDED by Councillor Hart, and

RESOLVED

(a) that the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment Annual Report as a true reflection of the Council’s current position in relation to meeting its duty to secure sufficient, accessible, affordable, high quality early years and childcare places so far as is reasonably practicable, be agreed;

(b) that Members confirm the sufficiency duty has been met this year, as far as is reasonably practicable, noting the work currently taking place to tackle hotspots; and

(c) note that the Report will be published on the website.