Jersey Child Care Trust: Five Year Strategy (2002 -2006) and the provision of funding.

THE JERSEY CHILD CARE TRUST: FIVE YEAR STRATEGY (2002-2006) AND THE PROVISION OF FUNDING

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Lodged au Greffe on 3rd July 2001 by the Education Committee

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STATES OF JERSEY

STATES GREFFE

180             2 0 0 1    P . 9 7          

Price code: B

PROPOSITION

THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion -

  to r ef e r to their Act dated 18th February 1997 in which they approved the establishment of a Child Care Trust to

co-ordinate, promote and facilitate expansion of child care provision in the Island and -

  (a ) to receive the Jersey Child Care Trust's Five Year Strategy for Child Care (2002-2006) and to approve the

key objectives set out in the report, namely -

(i ) to in c r e ase the number of high quality child care places,

(ii ) to c re a te a trained, motivated and well supported child care workforce,

(ii i )  to e n su r e that every working or studying parent can afford a high quality child care place, (iv  )  to cr e a te a child-friendly Island environment, and

(v ) to su p p o rt parents and relatives in their role;

(b ) to agree, in principle, that the additional sum of £98,300 per annum should be made available to the Jersey

Child Care Trust to enable it to implement the Strategy and to charge the Finance and Economics Committee to identify the appropriate source of funding for making the sum available from 2002 - 2006.

EDUCATION COMMITTEE

Notes:  1. T h e Finance and Economics Committee's comments are to follow.

  2 .  T  he Human Resources Committee notes that there are no manpower implications identified for States

Departments in the draft. If the proposals are implemented, any additional staffing requirements that may be identified in States Departments would be considered only in the light of the States policy on manpower and would not normally be approved unless compensatory savings are made elsewhere.

With r e g a rd to flexible working, the States Human Resources Department is currently conducting a general

review  of the  application  of  policies  and flexible  working will  be included  in  this.  The  Department  is, therefore, happy to undertake the review that has been requested by the Jersey Child Care Trust.

3 . T h e Jersey Child Care Trust Strategy referred to in this proposition is being published separately.

REPORT

1. B a c kg  round

  A t its   m eeting of 18th February 1997 the States adopted a proposition of the Education Committee (P.244/96) and

approved the setting-up by the States of a Child Care Trust to co-ordinate, promote and facilitate expansion of child care provision in the Island. Following registration of the Trust's Constitution before the Royal Court on 5th December 1997, the Trust has supported the development of significant advances in the range, quality and quantity of child care places available for children aged up to twelve years and has formed a close and working relationship with other agencies, both States and private, which are concerned for the welfare of children.

2. C  ur r e nt funding

  T o d a te   the Trust has delivered the targets within its Business Plan, as approved by the Education and Finance and

Economics Committees, with funding provided by way of annual grants from the Education Committee plus a series of additional interim annual grants made by the Finance and Economics Committee from the General Reserve, as follows -

1998 1999 2000

£ £ £

Education Committee 51,500 152,900 152,900 Finance and Economics Committee 122,000  55,000  66,000

173,500 207,900 218,900

Notes : 1. F or 1998 both the "start up" and "core running" costs were provided by the Finance and Economics

Committee.

  2 . F o r 1999 and 2000 the core running costs have been part of the Education Committee's cash limited revenue

budget and annual interim grants have been agreed by the Finance and Economics Committee, pending the delivery of the Trust's Five Year Strategy.

  Fo  r 2 0 0 1 similar interim arrangements have been agreed, with the Education Committee providing the Trust's core

funding in the sum of £156,700 and the Finance and Economics Committee providing an additional £70,000. The Finance and Economics Committee has further agreed that this sum will be added to the Education Committee's cash limited revenue budget and thus, from 2001 onwards, subject to the Committee's budgets being maintained in line with increasing pupil numbers, the Trust will receive an annual core grant from the Education Committee of £226,700.

3. F u t ur  e funding

  T o p u t the Trust on to a sound financial base, from which it would be able to plan the measured and ongoing

development of child care provisions in the Island, the Constitution of the Trust required it, within its second year of operation, to produce a five year strategic report together with funding and action plans for the same period, to be submitted to the Education Committee for approval and presented to the States by the President of the Education Committee on behalf of the Trust, for information and reporting purposes.

  A lth  o u g h the Trust met its other targets in terms of producing a detailed Business Plan and reporting progress to the

Education Committee, it has only now, at the end of its third year, been able to produce its Five Year Strategy. Whilst this delay is unfortunate, it was perhaps over-ambitious to require the Trust to produce such an important and far-reaching document in less than two years of operation. The delay has enabled the Trust to gain a much deeper understanding of the local child care environment and to produce a more coherent and constructive strategy than might otherwise have been possible.

  I t is a ls o now clear that the requirement of the Trust's constitution does not go far enough, in that simply "to

present this Strategy to the States, for information and reporting purposes", does not secure the support of States members for the Strategy nor, more crucially, does it secure a firm commitment to provide sufficient funding to the Trust so that it may deliver the agreed strategy. The purpose of this report is therefore to seek the support of the States to the targets, as outlined in the Child Care Trust's Five Year Strategy and to ask the States to approve the provision of increased core funding to the Trust to enable it to deliver those targets.

T h e T r u st's Five Year Strategy provides much detail and compelling argument to support its bid for funding for the

period 2002-2006 and therefore, those same arguments are not repeated here.

  It w  ill a lso be seen that the strategy identifies the funding required by the Trust to cover its direct activities as well

as broader funding elements which will need to be quantified and approved during the life of the strategy by those States Committees with responsibilities for areas of child care support. However, this report concentrates on the Trust's direct funding needs and leaves those other broader issues for later consideration, as they are developed over the next five years.

In s u m m  ary, the Trust requires funding for its Five Year Strategy, as follows -

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

£ £ £ £ £

Core funding Increased places Develop workforce Cost of places Child-friendly

environment Support parents

120,000 120,000 74,000 186,000 0 46,750

0 30,000

0 0  9,000   9,300 203,000 392,050

120,000 120,000 120,000 196,000 136,000 136,000 46,750 46,750 46,750 0 30,000 0

0 0 0   10,000  10,500  11,000 372,750 343,250 313,750

  In o r d e r to secure certainty and continuity for the future, it is proposed that this funding be averaged over the five

year period to produce an annual grant of £325,000. Of this sum, the Education Committee will, subject to its budgets being maintained in line with pupil numbers, continue to provide an annual grant of £226,700 to the Trust, from within its cash limited revenue budget and the shortfall of £98,300 per year will need to be secured from elsewhere.

  T h e E d ucation Committee has examined its core function priorities and is not in a position to make this additional

sum available from within its cash limited budget without damaging existing education services. Members will understand that it is not prepared to do this.

  T h e T r ust, as it has done already, will continue to raise funds and support in kind from a wide range of other

sources. However, it is unlikely that such support will be of the order of magnitude of the shortfall and thus, if additional States financial support cannot be secured, the planned work of the Trust will be significantly curtailed or will have to be extended over a much longer period. The Education Committee believes that the Trust must therefore be able to rely on a firm commitment to the provision of regular additional funding from the States if it is to fulfil its - which is in effect the States' - aim of meeting the targets as outlined in the Strategy for the period 2002-2006.

  It is   c l e ar that some of the potentially more major costs envisaged as possibilities by the Trust, may be borne by the

States in the future, if it so decides, in the provision of additional child care support. However, although the Trust may initiate and facilitate such discussions and considerations, it will rightly not be funded within its core budget for any arising financial consequences. These will be matters for States Committees and the States itself to decide upon.

4. C  on  c lusions

  T h e n a ture of the environment in which the Trust operates is variable and, to some extent, unpredictable, and a

strategy covering a five year period must be both flexible and responsive. The Education Committee firmly believes that the Trust has proposed just such a strategy, that the targets it contains are well judged in relation to identified need and that these targets may be adjusted over time in response to changing need or a changing environment.

  T h e E d ucation Committee therefore commends the Child Care Trust's Five Year Strategy for Child Care to the

States and asks that it gives wholehearted support to the identified work of the Trust over the life of the Strategy.

5. F i na  nc  ial and manpower implications

  T h e   f in ancial implications are set out above and the comments of the Human Resources Committee on the

manpower implications are attached.