Minutes:
(Mr. J. Walsh, Town Solicitor, attended in connection with this item.)
The Committee considered the undernoted report:
“1 Relevant Background Information
Belfast City Council has in the past provided crèche facilities in a number of its Leisure Centres across the city. Over recent years, following a series of reviews of the service all but two of these have closed. The remaining facilities are at Andersonstown and Ballysillan Leisure Centres. Reasons for the withdrawal of these services have been an inability to comply with strict legislative requirements such as health and safety, child safety and child protection regulations along with consistently low demand set against relatively high operational running costs and inadequate resources.
The Committee deferred consideration of the report presented on 13th June recommending to cease operating the crèches to enable further consultations with users and members to be undertaken.
2 Key Issues
The key issues remain the same
· The DHSSPS publish Childminding and Day Care minimum standards for Children Under the Age of 12.
· It is the legal opinion of the Council’s Senior Solicitor that the crèche facilities are non compliant with the minimum standards and present an unsustainable risk as currently run.
· There are compliance concerns with both crèches regarding facilities, child protection and Health and Safety. These include the need for a separate area for small children to sleep, changing and breast feeding facilities and small toilets for the sole use of the children.
· There are compliance issues relating to staff training, paediatric first aid, staff to children ratios and appropriate cover for staff absences. The three current staff members do not hold any childcare qualifications and do not have the capacity to reach the appropriate NVQ level training.
· The service does not provide good value for money for the Council (running at a subsidy of approximately £8,000 each)
· Some alternative childcare facilities are available in both areas (sure starts, private child care) although the cost for these varies.
· The crèches operate with limited numbers of customers. Those who do use the service and attended the consultations find the service very valuable. Most reported that without the crèche they could not attend the centre.
Andersonstown consultation
A consultation event was held with elected members in Andersonstown during October 2013 allowing members to view the crèche in operation and to speak with the two staff members. A separate consultation event was also held in October with the staff and users, three users of the service attended. Whilst these users were disappointed to hear that the service may cease they understood the compliance issues faced by the Council. They would be willing to consider childcare places in an alternative location close to the centre if this could be subsidised.
The two staff members are aware that the operation of the crèche in Andersonstown is not sustainable and they are aware that this may mean termination of their current employment contracts dependent on the decision of the Committee.
Ballysillan consultation
The users of Ballysillan crèche were invited to attend a consultation event on Friday 28th June 2013. Ten users attended the consultation event along with the Centre Manager and the Chairperson of this Committee, Councillor Gareth McKee. The users of Ballysillan are extremely disappointed about the potential withdrawal of this service.
By agreement and because of the level of extreme disappointment shown by the Ballysillan users a further consultation event was held in Ballysillan on 29th October 2013. The Centre manager and the Leisure Improvement Manager attended this consultation. 12 adults attended the meeting including service users, their friends, supporters and families. The attendees were again made aware of the current position regarding compliance including the legal opinion of the Councils Senior Solicitor. The users were informed that the recommendation to the Committee would be that the service could not continue under the current operating arrangements.
At both events the users at Ballysillan questioned the compliance issues and referred to the clause that reducing the operating time of the crèche from 2 hours to 1hour 45minutes would negate the need to comply with the legislation and guidance set out by the DHSSPS. It was explained that the Council would not look for ways of avoiding compliance with legislation, in particular where the welfare of children was concerned. The users were advised that the Council would also always strive to meet best practice guidelines.
Consultation events were held in Ballysillan for the elected members of the Oldpark area on 11th September 2013 and again on 29th October 2013.
The centre manager at Ballysillan has met with the one affected staff member. Whilst she is disappointed about the potential withdrawal of the service she has asked to be kept informed of decisions and discussions regularly and asked to be provided with as much notice as possible regarding her contract of employment.
Options
Due to the serious nature of the compliance issues which exist at both facilities it is recommended that the crèches cannot continue to operate under the current arrangements. Both crèches will need to cease operating in order to control the current risks that the Council faces both relating to compliance and potential reputational damage.
The management of both centres will in the meantime continue to explore options for alternatives which could allow the crèche users to continue using the centre. This may include introducing classes where adults and children can participate together.
The potential to renovate the rooms used for the crèches to meet the legal requirements is not a realistic consideration. The room in Andersonstown is used regularly for other activities such as arts and crafts, yoga, Pilates, meetings and holiday schemes. In Ballysillan, the public viewing area is used to provide crèche provision and it would not be practical to renovate this room to provide a purpose built crèche.
The review of Leisure will be used as a vehicle for discussion regarding the future of childcare provision within a future Leisure Model. This will need to be a factor for consideration in the design of new facilities and in the consideration of the model of delivery e.g. partnership with community organisations and other child care specialists.
3 Resource Implications
Financial
There will be no financial implications relating to the staff contracts as sessional attendants are not permanent employees. In line with the Leisure Transformation Programme, the department is continually striving to identify efficiencies, in particular where facilities are not well used.
The Council will save on the operational and running costs of the crèches. Annual staff costs for each site are £7-8,000.
Human Resources
Corporate Human Resources and legal services were consulted as part of the review of the service and the staff implications assessed. It is recommended that the contracts of the three sessional attendants are terminated at the end of December 2013.
Asset and Other Implications
None
4 Equality and Good Relations Considerations
Ceasing to provide crèche facilities does not present any equality or good relations issues as this follows the City wide approach. Continuing to provide a crèche facility in two centres does however create equity issues in that the service is not City Wide.
The recommendation below has been equality screened.
5 Recommendations
The Committee is asked to note the issues raised above in relation to this service and agree the recommendation to cease the operation of the service from January 2014.”
The Committee adopted the recommendation as set out within the report and agreed also that future consideration be given to childcare provision within the context of the Leisure Transformation Programme and the associated legislative requirements.