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ITEM BV9(b)

BEST VALUE COMMITTEE – 11 SEPTEMBER 2002

BEST VALUE REVIEW OF EARLY YEARS AND CHILDCARE – UPDATE REPORT

Report by Acting Chief Education Officer

Introduction

  1. This joint Education/Social Services Review was completed in February 2001. The review looked at three main areas:

    • key strategic issues within the Service including the importance of early intervention; ensuring that there are coherent links between early education, childcare and family support; the need to re-examine the overall balance of provision between the maintained and non-maintained sectors in Oxfordshire;

    • the prospects for moving towards integrated management and service delivery across education and social services;

    • indicators, costs and targets, including the possibilities for financing a further extension of and investment in provision within the maintained sector.

  1. The review resulted in three separate action plans for improvement:

        1. create an integrated early years and childcare unit within the County Council;

        2. change funding and admissions policy for three and four year olds in Oxfordshire in order to achieve savings and to generate additional income that can be used to finance service improvements;

        3. establish a performance management framework for early education and childcare within the context of an integrated early years and childcare service.

    Current Position

  2. With regard to the first improvement option, the Council’s new integrated Early Years and Childcare Service came into being as planned in April 2002. The service is located within the Lifelong Learning Branch of the Education Service. In staffing and operational terms, the process of integration was achieved very successfully and at no additional cost to the County Council. A number of the benefits that were anticipated are already being felt, including:

    • Single point of contact for the public and for external partners#

    • Unified and consistent management for all family centres in the County

    • Greater efficiency of support functions, particularly finance and personnel

  1. With regard to the second improvement option, the following actions have taken place during the past year:

    • There have been public discussions on a five-point strategy for developing the Foundation Stage of Learning for young children aged 3 to 5, including options for the earlier admission of four-year-olds to LEA primary schools. In a specially designed survey, parents of young children in Oxfordshire have also been asked about possible changes in the point at which children start school. The outcomes of this work were reported to The Executive on 25 June. As a result, further consultation on a specific proposal to introduce a single main point of entry to Oxfordshire primary schools is now set to begin in September 2002. The outcomes of this second round of consultation will be reported to the Executive in December 2002. The additional costs of a single main point of entry can be financed partly by additional revenue support grant from central government.

    • In April 2002, all three year olds in the County became entitled for the first time to two terms of publicly funded education in a recognised early years setting. This extension of the policy was entirely financed by grant from central government. As a result, the proportion of three year olds in Oxfordshire receiving funded early education rose from 17% in January 2001 to 41.3% in January 2002. This was more than four per cent above our planned participation target of 37%. A further extension of the entitlement – to a full three terms of funded early education for three year olds – is planned to take effect in January 2003.

    • A saving of £50k has been achieved within the annual budget for attached nursery schools. This saving – which took effect at the start of the 2002/03 financial year – has been achieved by introducing formula budgets for the schools concerned and by funding them in accordance with actual pupil numbers. The saving has been used by the Education Department’s work in implementing the Education Development Plan (EDP) for 2002-07, particularly Priority 8: "Building Learning Communities".

  1. With regard to the third improvement option, a performance management framework was prepared and presented to the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership in November 2001. It was used in the preparation of the County’s Early Years Development and Childcare Plan for 2002/03 and, also more recently, in the service planning for the new integrated early years and childcare service. The framework comprises two elements: firstly a set of key performance indicators across the following areas: levels of provision; quality of provision; costs of provision and levels of achievement; and secondly a process of annual review. More information on the framework is available in the Members’ Resource Centre.

  2. The Best Value Review was inspected by OFSTED in November 2001. A summary of the inspectors’ main findings is set out in the annex to this report.

    3. Conclusion

  3. This has been a highly successful review. Its impact on the service has been substantial and positive. It has helped to provide long-term strategic focus and direction to the work of the service.

    4. RECOMMENDATIONS

  4. The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

          1. note the progress reported; and

          2. identify whether there are any matters in the report which should be drawn to the attention of the Executive Member.

ROY SMITH
Acting Chief Education Officer

Background Papers:
(i) Early Years and Childcare Best Value Review reports (February/May 2001)
(ii) ‘Learning 3 to 5’ – first public discussion document on the development of early learning provision for young children in the Foundation Stage of Learning (OCC, December 2001).

Contact Officer: Rick Harmes, Principal Education Officer, tel 01865 810626

 

August 2002


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