Agenda item

MOTION: SURE START

Minutes:

Proposed by Councillor Leah Fraser

Seconded by Councillor Paul Hayes

 

(1) Council notes that the Director of Children’s services intends to seek a cut of £300,000 to the money allocated this year for the support given to families in Wirral through the Sure Start initiative.

(2) Council welcomes the decision by all three Party leaders to maintain Sure Start after the next General Election and therefore regrets the cuts to the programme in Wirral.

(3) Council believes that support for families, in particular with the important early years of a child’s life, is essential to improve the health and wellbeing of a family and wider society.

 

AMENDMENT

Proposed by Councillor Adrian Jones

Seconded by Councillor Phil Davies

Delete all of the existing text and replace with the following:

(1) Council believes that support for families, in particular for the important early years of children’s lives, is essential to improve the health and wellbeing of society in general. For this reason Council applauds the Government’s Sure Start initiative and the funding passed to Wirral Council which has enabled 21 Children’s Centres to be established across the Borough.

(2) Council rejects the allegation made by the Conservative Group that Wirral’s Sure Start programme has been cut. No Sure Start Centre has had any funding reduced and no future plans are threatened in any way. This is scaremongering of the worst kind. The Government provided full year funding for the second phase of new Children’s Centres and any funding left over in that year because the agreed timescale meant new buildings were completed part way through the year, or the full complement of staff were only appointed part way through the year, has been used to fund other activities for under 5s that are also eligible for Sure Start grant.

(3) Council notes that the saving occurs because the Council has been able to use outstanding Sure Start grant in that year for activities for which it would otherwise have had to find additional funding for from within its own budget.

(4) Council notes that Wirral’s investment in Sure Start stands in stark contrast to the national Conservative position as set out in their ‘Helping new families’ policy document which commits the Conservatives to cutting £200 million per year from Children’s Centres to spend elsewhere. This would mean cutting 19.5% from Sure Start budgets - the equivalent of almost one in five Children’s Centres being forced to close. In Wirral, if a Conservative government were elected, this could mean the closure of up to four Sure Start Centres.

 

The following amendment was accepted as a friendly amendment by the movers of the above amendment.

 

AMENDMENT

 

Proposed by Councillor Peter Reisdorf

Seconded by: Councillor Sarah Quinn

 

Replace paragraph (1) with new text:

(1) Council welcomes the expansion of the Children's Centre Programme and the fact that Sure Start grant funding for Wirral has increased significantly, from £8m to £10m over the period 2006-10.

 

Delete all after ‘General Election’ in paragraph (2).

Run remainder of paragraphs (2) and (3) together and renumber as (2)

Insert:

(3) Council endorses the proposed phase 3 extension of Sure Start to include

centres at Greasby Library, Pensby Park, Black Horse Hill infant School, and Grove Street School representing an investment of £5.2m.

(4) Council further notes that 17,404 under 5’s will be able to access and benefit from this and previous investments by 2011.

(5) Council condemns those elements within the Conservative Party spreading scare stories and rumours designed to de-stabilise the Sure Start programme and calls on them to stop using families and children as political footballs.

 

The composite amendment was put to the vote and carried (38:21)

 

Resolved – That the motion, as now amended and set out below, be approved.

 

(1) Council believes that support for families, in particular for the important early years of children’s lives, is essential to improve the health and wellbeing of society in general. For this reason Council applauds the Government’s Sure Start initiative and the funding passed to Wirral Council which has enabled 21 Children’s Centres to be established across the Borough.

 

Council welcomes the expansion of the Children's Centre Programme and the fact that Sure Start grant funding for Wirral has increased significantly, from £8m to £10m over the period 2006-10.

 

(2) Council welcomes the decision by all three Party leaders to maintain Sure Start after the next General Election and believes that support for families, in particular with the important early years of a child’s life, is essential to improve the health and wellbeing of a family and wider society.

 

(3) Council endorses the proposed phase 3 extension of Sure Start to include centres at Greasby Library, Pensby Park, Black Horse Hill infant School, and Grove Street School representing an investment of £5.2m.

 

(4) Council further notes that 17,404 under 5’s will be able to access and benefit from this and previous investments by 2011.

 

(5) Council condemns those elements within the Conservative Party spreading scare stories and rumours designed to de-stabilise the Sure Start programme and calls on them to stop using families and children as political footballs.

 

(6) Council rejects the allegation made by the Conservative Group that Wirral’s Sure Start programme has been cut. No Sure Start Centre has had any funding reduced and no future plans are threatened in any way. This is scaremongering of the worst kind. The Government provided full year funding for the second phase of new Children’s Centres and any funding left over in that year because the agreed timescale meant new buildings were completed part way through the year, or the full complement of staff were only appointed part way through the year, has been used to fund other activities for under 5s that are also eligible for Sure Start grant.

 

(7) Council notes that the saving occurs because the Council has been able to use outstanding Sure Start grant in that year for activities for which it would otherwise have had to find additional funding for from within its own budget.

 

(8) Council notes that Wirral’s investment in Sure Start stands in stark contrast to the national Conservative position as set out in their ‘Helping new families’ policy document which commits the Conservatives to cutting £200 million per year from Children’s Centres to spend elsewhere. This would mean cutting 19.5% from Sure Start budgets - the equivalent of almost one in five Children’s Centres being forced to close. In Wirral, if a Conservative government were elected, this could mean the closure of up to four Sure Start Centres.