REPORTS FROM MEETINGS - eMail yours...
Dfee Conference in Bristol 24 November 98
Joint Meeting of CUBA Partnership Chairs & senior officers 8 December 98
Joint Meeting of CUBA Partnership Chairs & Officers 8 December 98:
Dave reports.. again blame me if I've got it wrong - I know some issues are rather delicate, but..
This was a useful informal run though of where each Partnership was at, and discussion of the overlapping issues facing the Partnerships. A list of the CUBA Chairs is now available. The following headings were used (details to be added when I get time).
 | Existing work & state of Partnerships - A run though was provided. [to add when I have time]. A very different range of approaches from using Financial consultants (N Somerset) to simply employing more in-house staff. |
| Information Service - Need for some common CUBA threads - as well as upgrading of ALIS system (though concerns at affect of SSA settlements) - due to parents expectations across boundaries. SGC concerned at high cost of APN (so looking to review in medium term). BANES & N Somerset not using APN. With DfEE model web pages and growing electronic pages - the key issue is who will keep the data up to date? I'm not entirely sure all the other authorities fully understand the appendix guidance and CHIC model. Learning Partnership West expressing interest - but not in keeping data up to date(!?! - isn't this the very problem why the TAP initiative failed?). Agreed on need to get TEC/ Health Authority & Employment Service contributing (as well as N Somerset & BANES) - i.e. a lot more groups paying for a basic service level. Issues of longer hours? freephone? & availability of top up services to be discussed further. Bristol to circulate draft specification. |
| Development Agents - None of the 3 other Councils appear to see OSCA within their development plans at present - preferring to support more local development services (Springboard in N Som; Children's Playlink in SGC; and BAND generally) and/or employ development staff directly. Some concerns re how OSCA places/ training tie in with existing Plans, local knowledge, and overall quality of approach. Strength felt to be in business planning rather than necessarily responding sensitively to helping parents. Current funding: £140k central CUBA (with £30k TEC top up)(plus £60k for training) for some 6 staff. Need for greater info on management (ie relationship to TEC and Equalities Foundation) and budget details. A theme emerged of TEC as facilitator - not doer. Need to manage how this develop & retain valuable links with TEC and employer/ training sides. SGC to set up meeting with TEC CX (Richard). There was also a useful shared reflection on other relevant agencies (PSLA, Childminding Networks, etc). |
| Training Strategies - General discussion - again much cross boundary overlap although with different aspects in different areas. Agreed on need to move towards a joint meeting with FE colleges etc in March 99 (SGC to co-ordinate). To involve key players from Partnership (Training) Working Groups. |
| Networking - Agreed we need to circulate newsletters/ Plans between each CUBA Partnership. Some discussion on Regional position - and NCB officers network. We do need to ensure that Partnership have national input to DfEE and their own communication network. It stimulated some thoughts as to what we need to raise at Exeter next week at NEYN meeting. |
The meeting was generally felt to be useful. We agreed on need to hold next meeting on Tuesday 16 March (10.00am in Bristol).
DfEE Conference in Bristol - 24 November:
Dave Sutton reports: Three big items still awaited:-
| Over 650 responses to Regulation & Inspection consultation. Summary due by end of year. |
| QCA Review of Desirable Learning Outcomes. Draft proposals early in New Year, finalised Summer 99 with implementation for Sept 2000. |
| QCA - Qualifications framework - just out. Downloadable as pdf file. |
Not forgetting info on how 3 year olds are to be funded. (£390m over 3 years to double places from 33% to 66%). There was little info on Childcare Tax Credit. When I raised the difficulties of no current year funding for Partnerships, I was pointed to all the savings the Council had made from the ending of vouchers!! Whilst all the talk is of "meaningful partnerships" the DfEE guidance regularly falls back onto relying on LEA's at crunch points.
Of the £44m nationally (£320k odd for Bristol) for Partnerships :-
| at least 23% needs to be allocated to pick up the current OSCI work in providing out-of-school places and helping prepare bids for NOF (i.e. current OSCA work - though they will be directly funded for training work). |
| allocation needs to be made to delivery of information service (ringfenced?) |
| the Partnership can consider organisational costs (no national model or restrictions as yet). If employing a co-ordinator, then suggestion that it be done though Council. |
The strategy will need to try and balance the building of the capacity & infrastructure with the "early wins" of new places. It will require linking to consideration of Council staffing and responsibilities and Council grants (will Councillors resist temptation to cut?) as well as to variations in SSA (where we are still trying to get a detailed breakdown of Bristol's £9.6m Under 5's SSA). Relying on SSA is also questionable given that Bristol already spends in excess of SSA in both Education (circa 12%) and Social Services (circa 20%). So whether it will really mean more actual money to increase capacity of Inspection Unit remains to be seen.
Whilst overall the day was useful there was not a huge turnout (this was number 12 of 15 presentations) so perhaps it could have been opened up to more people (especially from parents and providers). If anything, Partnerships seem to be operating very differently in different areas. The timescales are still impossible - all too often we seem to focus on the next plan and not making sure we have progressed the current Plan. There is perhaps a danger that the speed and the stress on Quarterly returns will obscure a bigger vision of where we want to go and how we build quality into all aspects of the process.