Agenda item

8.1

RESOLVED: On the motion of Councillor Dianne Hurst and seconded by Councillor Garry Weatherall, that, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 9.1, the order of business as published on the Council Summons be altered by (a) taking item 9 (Notice of Motion Regarding “Investing In Early Yeas”) as the next item of business and (b) moving item 7 (Notice of Motion Regarding “’Right To Food’ – Working Together To Tackle Food Poverty In The City and To Develop A Local Food Access Plan”) to be taken after item 8 on the agenda.

8.2

It was moved by Councillor Jayne Dunn, and seconded by Councillor Mike Drabble, that this Council:-

(a)      believes that the early years are critical for a child’s development and childcare is a fundamental building block of our economy and further believes that over the last decade, early years services have been neglected by the Government;

(b)      notes with concern the report ‘Closed Doors’ by Action for Children, which considered children’s centre usage between 2014/15 and 2017/18 and stated “Despite the importance of children’s centres to many families, their existence is under threat. Years of funding cuts have left councils with little choice but to reduce children’s centre budgets. As resources become increasingly stretched, a number of centres have closed. Many of those that remain have been forced to reduce the level of service on offer.”;

(c)      notes recent research which highlights that nationally over 1,000 Sure Start Centres have been lost since 2010 and believes that this is the legacy of the coalition government’s reckless austerity policies targeting cuts at children most in need, and in addition, notes that 12,000 early education and childcare providers have been lost since 2015 and 30,000 more early years providers are at risk of closure within a year;

(d)      is concerned that the sector has been disproportionately impacted by Covid-19 and believes that, although early years providers were relied upon to enable key workers to continue to work during the pandemic, they received insufficient financial protection;

(e)      welcomes that Sheffield City Council provided additional support for the publicly funded hours (over and above national guidance), however, believes that the Government failed early years providers providing little support for the paid provision;

(f)       is concerned that the insufficient increase in funding, historical underfunding, increasing costs and impact of Covid-19, means that early years’ providers in Sheffield will be faced with financial sustainability issues across the childcare sector and that it is also becoming increasingly difficult to recruit and retain staff due to the early years providers’ inability to pay competitive rates;

(g)      believes Sheffield continues to be underfunded as compared to other local authorities, with the disparity in Sheffield’s hourly Funded Early Learning (FEL) rate compared to other core cities, with Bristol receiving £5.69 an hour for three and four year olds, which is 21% higher than Sheffield’s rate of £4.71 per hour; Nottingham receives £5.06 per hour, Newcastle £5.05, Manchester £5.01, Leeds £4.95 and Birmingham £4.85, and only Liverpool receives less, at £4.69;

(h)      notes that Sheffield also receives a lower rate for two year olds at £5.36 per hour, compared to £5.59 in Bristol, £5.46 in Manchester, £5.40 in Birmingham, £5.39 in Nottingham and £5.38 in Liverpool, with Leeds and Manchester also receiving £5.36 per hour;

(i)       supports Sheffield trade unions in their petition to Government to significantly increase funding in Early Years, which states that the current levels of funding for early years education and care are insufficient to provide the high quality services young children in Sheffield deserve, and supports their call for:-

(i)       increased investment to ensure Sheffield deploys the highly qualified workforce required to improve the quality of service to young children;

(ii)       recognition of the professional role of early years workers; and

(iii)      fair pay for all early years workers that properly rewards their skills and qualification; and

(j)       calls on the Government to address this disparity and provide Sheffield with a fair funding deal in addition to the additional investment needed to ensure every child can recover the learning and social development lost in the pandemic and has the chance to reach their full potential.

8.3

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Mike Levery, and seconded by Councillor Ann Whitaker, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of paragraphs (c) to (j) and the addition of new paragraphs (c) to (n) as follows:-

(c)      recognises the considerable efforts of the Early Years Team in maintaining contact with the most vulnerable families during lockdowns, and developing online resources to provide advice and guidance to families;

(d)      notes that the All Party Parliamentary Group on Sure Start Children’s Centres’ 2015 report stated that ‘the ultimate aim should be to position children’s centres at the heart of service provision in their communities to enable them to provide the sort of holistic offer we know to be valued and effective’;

(e)      notes that Surestart Children’s Centres continue to operate in cities such as Manchester (34 centres), Bristol (24), Liverpool (25), Birmingham (22), Hull (20) and across the Metropolitan District of Leeds (65);

(f)       notes that Hull and Birmingham are examples where local and national charities operate their Children’s Centres, and include trained voluntary workers in their Children’s Centre teams;

(g)      notes that the number of children's centres in Sheffield had been reduced to 16 by 2017; of the 16, just 5 were Ofsted categorised as Good, and the other 11 were under Notice to Improve;

(h)      notes that Sheffield adopted the Barnsley model of Family Centres in 2017, reducing again to 7 Family Centres and 7 link sites in operation in 2021, a reduction in registered Children’s Centres of 85% since 2010; further noting that Barnsley has 5 Family Centres, 5 link sites and 8 outreach venues;

(i)       notes that the Family Centre model changes provision from 0 – 5 to 0 – 18; and that Barnsley have extended their provision across the 0 – 18 age range, and Sheffield has yet to move beyond 0 – 5 four years after adopting this model in 2017;

(j)       notes that the former Children’s Centres that are now linked sites have reduced their activity significantly, one site has closed and the activities in others are limited and inconsistent;

(k)      believes that Sheffield’s Early Years strategy of Family Centres and link sites is failing to meet the needs of its most vulnerable children, particularly those who have no easy access to their nominated Family Centre;

(l)       believes that other models of provision should be explored including models involving the charitable sector operating as strategic partners for Early Years delivery;

(m)     believes that the link sites are not meeting the very basic needs of the communities they serve; and

(n)      calls on the Co-operative Executive to review the whole operating model of Family Centres and link sites; this should take place at the earliest opportunity with the objective of returning linked sites back to full operation to enable them to regain Surestart Children’s Centre status, returning the city back to the 16 Children’s Centres that operated in 2017; a very necessary step in the right direction.

8.4

It was then formally moved by Councillor Alexi Dimond, and formally seconded by Councillor Martin Phipps, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the addition of new paragraphs (k) to (r) as follows:-

(k)      further to (i), will write to Sheffield’s MPs to lobby the Government to demand parity for Sheffield’s children as compared with those of other cities;

(l)       calls on the Government to commission an independent review of childcare funding and affordability;

(m)     commits to publicly thanking early years practitioners and support staff in the city for caring for children while other services in the city were closed, recognising that their pay, terms and conditions are not commensurate with that of teachers of older children;

(n)      welcomes and commends the partnership between Sheffield Hallam University, Watercliffe Meadow School, Sheffield City Council, and Save the Children UK, which has led to a Early Years Community Research Centre opening in Shirecliffe and commits to looking at innovative ways to fund similar centres in lieu of much-needed central government funding;

(o)      recalls, however, this Council’s past choices to close Surestart centres and cut grants to outstanding community nurseries in the most deprived parts of the city where market forces do not support commercial private-sector nursery businesses;

(p)      recognises that the current moment in time is an important point for reflection and collaboration so that the experiences and learning of the last 18 months is not lost;

(q)      recognises that families and children receiving Universal Credit and legacy benefits; asylum seekers, people with no recourse to public funds, speakers of English as an additional language and limited access to the internet, are disproportionately affected by the lack of provision in Early Years and that this has been exacerbated by the pandemic; and

(r)       therefore, commits to bringing stakeholders together from across the city for an open session to discuss approaches to current challenges and share practice.

8.5

The amendment moved by Councillor Mike Levery was put to the vote and was negatived.

8.6

The amendment moved by Councillor Alexi Dimond was then put to the vote and was carried.

8.6.1

(NOTE: 1. The Deputy Lord Mayor (Councillor Sioned-Mair Richards) and Councillors Chris Rosling-Josephs, Denise Fox, Bryan Lodge, Karen McGowan, Talib Hussain, Mark Jones, Ruth Milsom, Zahira Naz, Abdul Khayum, Abtisam Mohamed, Cate McDonald, George Lindars-Hammond, Josie Paszek, Terry Fox, Anne Murphy, Tony Downing, Ben Miskell, Jack Scott, Sophie Wilson, Mike Drabble, Dianne Hurst, Dawn Dale, Peter Price, Garry Weatherall, Mike Chaplin, Jayne Dunn, Julie Grocutt, Ben Curran, Mick Rooney, Jackie Satur and Paul Wood, voted for paragraphs (k) to (n) and (p) to (r) of the amendment moved by Councillor Alexi Dimond, and voted against paragraph (o) of the amendment, and asked for this to be recorded.

2.  Councillor Lewis Chinchen voted for paragraphs (o) to (r) of the amendment moved by Councillor Alexi Dimond, and abstained from voting on paragraphs (k) to (n) of the amendment moved by Councillor Alexi Dimond, and asked for this to be recorded.)

8.7

The original Motion, as amended, was then put as a Substantive Motion in the following form and carried:-

RESOLVED: That this Council:-

(a)      believes that the early years are critical for a child’s development and childcare is a fundamental building block of our economy and further believes that over the last decade, early years services have been neglected by the Government;

(b)      notes with concern the report ‘Closed Doors’ by Action for Children, which considered children’s centre usage between 2014/15 and 2017/18 and stated “Despite the importance of children’s centres to many families, their existence is under threat. Years of funding cuts have left councils with little choice but to reduce children’s centre budgets. As resources become increasingly stretched, a number of centres have closed. Many of those that remain have been forced to reduce the level of service on offer.”;

(c)      notes recent research which highlights that nationally over 1,000 Sure Start Centres have been lost since 2010 and believes that this is the legacy of the coalition government’s reckless austerity policies targeting cuts at children most in need, and in addition, notes that 12,000 early education and childcare providers have been lost since 2015 and 30,000 more early years providers are at risk of closure within a year;

(d)      is concerned that the sector has been disproportionately impacted by Covid-19 and believes that, although early years providers were relied upon to enable key workers to continue to work during the pandemic, they received insufficient financial protection;

(e)      welcomes that Sheffield City Council provided additional support for the publicly funded hours (over and above national guidance), however, believes that the Government failed early years providers providing little support for the paid provision;

(f)       is concerned that the insufficient increase in funding, historical underfunding, increasing costs and impact of Covid-19, means that early years’ providers in Sheffield will be faced with financial sustainability issues across the childcare sector and that it is also becoming increasingly difficult to recruit and retain staff due to the early years providers’ inability to pay competitive rates;

(g)      believes Sheffield continues to be underfunded as compared to other local authorities, with the disparity in Sheffield’s hourly Funded Early Learning (FEL) rate compared to other core cities, with Bristol receiving £5.69 an hour for three and four year olds, which is 21% higher than Sheffield’s rate of £4.71 per hour; Nottingham receives £5.06 per hour, Newcastle £5.05, Manchester £5.01, Leeds £4.95 and Birmingham £4.85, and only Liverpool receives less, at £4.69;

(h)      notes that Sheffield also receives a lower rate for two year olds at £5.36 per hour, compared to £5.59 in Bristol, £5.46 in Manchester, £5.40 in Birmingham, £5.39 in Nottingham and £5.38 in Liverpool, with Leeds and Manchester also receiving £5.36 per hour;

(i)       supports Sheffield trade unions in their petition to Government to significantly increase funding in Early Years, which states that the current levels of funding for early years education and care are insufficient to provide the high quality services young children in Sheffield deserve, and supports their call for:-

(i)       increased investment to ensure Sheffield deploys the highly qualified workforce required to improve the quality of service to young children;

(ii)       recognition of the professional role of early years workers; and

(iii)      fair pay for all early years workers that properly rewards their skills and qualification;

(j)       calls on the Government to address this disparity and provide Sheffield with a fair funding deal in addition to the additional investment needed to ensure every child can recover the learning and social development lost in the pandemic and has the chance to reach their full potential;

(k)      further to (i), will write to Sheffield’s MPs to lobby the Government to demand parity for Sheffield’s children as compared with those of other cities;

(l)       calls on the Government to commission an independent review of childcare funding and affordability;

(m)     commits to publicly thanking early years practitioners and support staff in the city for caring for children while other services in the city were closed, recognising that their pay, terms and conditions are not commensurate with that of teachers of older children;

(n)      welcomes and commends the partnership between Sheffield Hallam University, Watercliffe Meadow School, Sheffield City Council, and Save the Children UK, which has led to a Early Years Community Research Centre opening in Shirecliffe and commits to looking at innovative ways to fund similar centres in lieu of much-needed central government funding;

(o)      recalls, however, this Council’s past choices to close Surestart centres and cut grants to outstanding community nurseries in the most deprived parts of the city where market forces do not support commercial private-sector nursery businesses;

(p)      recognises that the current moment in time is an important point for reflection and collaboration so that the experiences and learning of the last 18 months is not lost;

(q)      recognises that families and children receiving Universal Credit and legacy benefits; asylum seekers, people with no recourse to public funds, speakers of English as an additional language and limited access to the internet, are disproportionately affected by the lack of provision in Early Years and that this has been exacerbated by the pandemic; and

(r)       therefore, commits to bringing stakeholders together from across the city for an open session to discuss approaches to current challenges and share practice.

8.7.1

(NOTE: 1.  Councillors Simon Clement-Jones, Richard Shaw, Sophie Thornton, Bob McCann, Ann Woolhouse, Tim Huggan, Mohammed Mahroof, Joe Otten, Colin Ross, Martin Smith, Vic Bowden, Alan Woodcock, Roger Davison, Barbara Masters, Shaffaq Mohammed, Sue Alston, Andrew Sangar, Cliff Woodcraft, Ian Auckland, Sue Auckland, Steve Ayris, Kevin Oxley, Penny Baker, Richard Williams, Alan Hooper, Mike Levery and Ann Whitaker voted for paragraphs (a), (b) and (k) to (r) of the Substantive Motion, and voted against paragraphs (c) to (j) of the Substantive Motion, and asked for this to be recorded.

2.  Councillor Lewis Chinchen voted for paragraphs (o) to (r) of the Substantive Motion, voted against paragraphs (c) to (f) of the Substantive Motion, and abstained from voting on paragraphs (a), (b) and (g) to (n) of the Substantive Motion, and asked for this to be recorded.)