11.1 –Motion regarding Remaining Local Authority Day Nurseries

Councillor Peter Golds moved and Councillor Andrew Wood seconded the motion as printed in the agenda.

Councillor Danny Hassell moved and Mayor John Biggs seconded the following amendment to the motion to be debated as tabled:

Added text underlined.

Deleted text scored out.

This council notes that there has been considerable concern amongst both members and residents regarding the closure of the three remaining Local Authority Day Nurseries, namely; John Smith, Overland and Mary Sambrook. We further note that a public consultation was held on the proposals which attracted 592 responses, 53% of which were in favour of the proposal to close the Local Authority Day Nurseries, and that there are clearly diverse views on this matter. 

The council further notes that the call-in members expressed concern in their call-in requisition that 

“no ‘other operators’ were considered as providers to run the three LADNs” though notes that this statement was disputed by council officers.

In addition, the members highlighted the alternatives presented to the Schools Forum all resulted in closure of the three nurseries although again this followed an earlier decision from the Schools Forum which made clear their intention to withdraw funding from the LADNs.

In addition, the call-in members suggest that the result of the decision will result in a ‘depreciation of service’ for service users and is therefore in contrast to what was agreed by full council in 2017 but note that this is not accepted by the leadership and particularly that the Mayor has stated he plans to bring forward new proposals for Early Years initiatives as part of the forthcoming Budget process which will have a wider positive impact for local residents and that there will be no reduction in early years places and that it is proposed that a number of pilot initiatives will be developed following the imminent early years summit.

The council notes that whilst the Mayor has responsibility for Executive decisions, members retain certain responsibilities as to the budget.

Constitution - 4.02 Functions of Council

Only Council will exercise the following functions:

(b) approving or adopting the policy framework and the budget;

The council also notes the letter from the former Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer which explicitly set out that despite claims to the contrary the decision regarding the LADNs was for the Executive not the council, and that this was both clarified in writing to O&S before and again after the call-in.

Therefore,The Council believes that despite this being an Executive decision, in this case there are budgetary implications and therefore the decision to proceed should be debated by full council has, by consideration of this motion, been debated and enabled enabling members to invite the Mayor to explain the situation to full council and in light of the council debate whether to proceed with the closures.

The amendment was put to the vote and agreed.

Following debate, the motion as amended was put to the vote and was agreed.

RESOLVED:

This council notes that there has been considerable concern amongst both members and residents regarding the closure of the three remaining Local Authority Day Nurseries, namely; John Smith, Overland and Mary Sambrook. We further note that a public consultation was held on the proposals which attracted 592 responses, 53% of which were in favour of the proposal to close the Local Authority Day Nurseries, and that there are clearly diverse views on this matter. 

The council further notes that the call-in members expressed concern in their call-in requisition that “no ‘other operators’ were considered as providers to run the three LADNs” though notes that this statement was disputed by council officers.

In addition, the members highlighted the alternatives presented to the Schools Forum all resulted in closure of the three nurseries although again this followed an earlier decision from the Schools Forum which made clear their intention to withdraw funding from the LADNs.

In addition, the call-in members suggest that the result of the decision will result in a ‘depreciation of service’ for service users and is therefore in contrast to what was agreed by full council in 2017 but note that this is not accepted by the leadership and particularly that the Mayor has stated he plans to bring forward new proposals for Early Years initiatives as part of the forthcoming Budget process which will have a wider positive impact for local residents and that there will be no reduction in early years places and that it is proposed that a number of pilot initiatives will be developed following the imminent early years summit. 

The council notes that whilst the Mayor has responsibility for Executive decisions, members retain certain responsibilities as to the budget.

Constitution - 4.02 Functions of Council

Only Council will exercise the following functions:

(b) approving or adopting the policy framework and the budget;

The council also notes the letter from the former Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer which explicitly set out that despite claims to the contrary the decision regarding the LADNs was for the Executive not the council, and that this was both clarified in writing to O&S before and again after the call-in.

The Council believes that despite this being an Executive decision, the decision to proceed should be debated by full council and has, by consideration of this motion, been debated and enabled members to invite the Mayor to explain the situation to full council and in light of the council debate whether to proceed with the closures.