Children & families organisational review - community learning and development Consultation Paper Date: 16 January 2008 1. Purpose of Report 1.1 To outline proposals for an 850,000 reduction in Community Learning and Development (CLD) expenditure. 1.2 To provide details of how these savings can be achieved and the potential impact on service delivery. 1.3 To confirm the key principles underpinning the CLD service and to set out the future priorities for service delivery with reduced staffing and resource levels. 2. Summary 2.1 The Children and Families Department is carrying out an Organisational Review of Community Learning and Development with the aim of reducing annual expenditure by 850,000. 2.2 The Children and Families Department recognises the important contribution made by CLD and we now intend to reprioritise the service to better reflect the core business of the department. 2.2 The proposed savings will impact on service delivery but have been formulated to protect front line services as much as possible. 2.3 Savings totalling 850,000 have been proposed in Neighbourhood Based Senior Community Learning and Development Workers; Management of Community Centres; Central CLD Support Team; Wester Hailes Education and Training Managers Group; the City Literacy and Numeracy programme; reductions in janitorial overtime; and reductions in supplies and services. 2.4 The proposed savings include a 16.5 FTE reduction in staffing and removal of the posts associated with the Wester Hailes Education and Training Managers Group. 3 Future Priorities for CLD 3.1 Community Learning and Development, previously known as the Community Education Service, has been recognised as a key component of the former Education Department and now the Children and Families Department for many years. CLD has been the subject of three HMIE inspections in the last 5 years and the performance of staff has been commended on each occasion. 3.2 CLD provides a range of services including informal community based education with children, young people and adults, and capacity building with local groups and organisations. There are 44 community centres in the city, usually managed by locally elected committees with the support of CLD staff. The advertised adult education programme of day and evening classes is delivered by CLD in schools, centres and other venues throughout the city, attracting around 15,000 fee paying students each year. 3.3 CLD has traditionally provided support and services across the age ranges on a universal basis. During the past 10 years however, service areas outwith education have increasingly adopted community development approaches and nationally a significant number of CLD qualified staff are now employed in areas such as housing, social care and economic development. The priorities of CLD in Edinburgh now require to be reviewed and reprioritised to better reflect the core aims of the Children and Families department. 3.4 The principal contributions of CLD to the aims of the department can be characterised in two areas of activity: direct educational and support work with children and young people to develop self confidence, social skills, positive behaviour and resilience. informal education and capacity building with parents, carers, families and community groups to develop constructive and safe environments that support the development of children and young people. There is extensive research to support the view that a civic sense of responsibility for children is a major factor in their development and this is a key factor in the work of Communities that Care. 3.5 An increased emphasis on these priorities needs to be established with a consequent decrease in activity that is not clearly contributing to these aims. Reprioritisation also needs to take account of the fact that CLD is no longer a stand alone service within the department but is now an integral part of integrated neighbourhood teams. This enables CLD staff to play a much more active role in coordinated efforts to establish integrated professional interventions as part of the GIRFEC based "Team Around the Child" developments and to initiate strategies to put into practice the complementary "Community Around the Child". 3.6 Change of this nature will be supported by a different approach to local management, moving away from a specialist functional arrangement at Senior Community Learning and Development Worker (SCLDW) level to a more generic approach with a more effective ratio of senior to basic grade staff. 3.7 In addition, we need to review and change the ways in which community centres are used and managed. Currently a very significant level of professional input is made to the management of community facilities, most of which have locally elected management committees. Professional staff time is not effectively deployed in the management of buildings and there is too much emphasis on professionals carrying out tasks that could be undertaken by local people with appropriate support. Centres vary widely in their size, cost and level of activity and a departure from the practice of managing all of these facilities directly will be informed by detailed analysis of alternative options including self managed centres, voluntary organisation status for centres and the provision of services in some centres managed directly by the council with no local management committees. 3.8 The proposed changes described below also reflect the neighbourhood basis of the Children and Families structure with less centrally based management and support and stronger decentralised arrangements. 4. Proposals for Change 4.1 The Education, Children and Families Committee, at its meeting on the 30 October 2007, approved the report Education Children and Families Organisational Review which set out the background, scope, process and timescale for an organisational review. 4.2 The key function of CLD within the Children and Families Department is to encourage and support the active participation of people of all ages in community activity. Research shows that engaging in community life is an effective buffer against adversity and helps to build resilience within individuals, families and the wider community. CLD staff are often the first to engage with vulnerable children and families and this contact is used to support, divert and signpost their access to other services. The following proposed budget reductions will place inevitable additional pressures on service delivery but have been formulated in such a way to protect as far as possible front line services. 4.3 Reductions to achieve savings of 850,000 are proposed in the following areas: Neighbourhood based Senior Community Learning and Development Workers Management and staffing of Community Centres Central Support Team Education and Training Managers Group City Literacy and Numeracy Programme (CLAN) Other Budget reductions 4.4 Neighbourhood based Senior CLD Workers Background In order to achieve a secure management structure and ensure the continuation of effective delivery of service at local and strategic levels with reduced capacity it will be necessary to: Develop local responsibility for integrated CLD teams Recognise that Neighbourhoods have different configurations of size, population and need and this should be a consideration when agreeing staffing levels Retain specialist skills, knowledge and experience Retain development of direct service delivery elements within SCLDW role Minimise the impact on service delivery Proposal To reduce the number of SCLDW's from 20 to 15 and introduce a local management structure fitting flexibly around school clusters and Neighbourhood Partnerships, to facilitate collaborative practice with colleagues and other partners. Seniors would take responsibility for local integrated CLD teams and a lead responsibility for CLD specialist functions and cross cutting themes to ensure retention of specialist skills knowledge and experience. A reduced element of direct service delivery would be retained. Potential Impact SCLDW's currently spend approximately 30% of their time on direct service delivery. Maintenance of this level will require a stronger role in local management by CLD Managers and a reprioritisation of activity as indicated above. Projected full year saving 202,000 4.5 Management and Staffing of Community Centres Background There are 30 Community Learning and Development workers (CLDWs) responsible for centre management. Centres vary considerably in size, cost and level of activity. Proposal To reduce the number of CLD workers by six from 30 to 24. This will require: Strengthening the role of community centres as the location for a wider range of CLD activities; Involving a broader range of CLD staff in contributing to the development of community centres. Maximising the role of community centres as community anchor organisations offering a range of locally determined services to support children, families and communities. Releasing professional staff from building management, allowing more time to be devoted to delivering CLD priorities. This will include CLD staff working across more than one centre if necessary Developing differentiated models of community centre management including the following: oVillage or community halls these would operate with minimal staff oHub organisations which offer a range of services with other Children and Families partners. These would offer, where possible, a base to a range of CLD staff oCommunity organisations independent of the Council. These would be encouraged and supported to raise funds from other sources. Potential Impact In examining the above, a review of the current Devolved Centre Management scheme, the leasing and constitutional arrangements and the organisation of cleaning, caretaking and key holding as well as the role and remit of facilities coordinators will be necessary. Levels of service and activity provided in centres should not decrease but should be organised with less dependence on professional staff. Progress towards new management arrangements will require support to management committees and will need to be taken forward in conjunction with any proposal to rationalise facilities. Projected full year saving 206,000 4.6 Central Support Team Background There are currently 3.5 CLDWs, 3 SCLDWs, 1 Project Worker and 1 Principal Officer providing central management support to the Neighbourhood teams. The only direct service delivered by this team is the advertised day and evening adult education programme (1 SCLDW and 1CLDW). Proposal To relocate the central management support responsibility to the Neighbourhood Managers with the retention of the Principal Officer and the advertised programme staff. Consideration of alternative models of delivering the advertised programme is currently underway and this could enable a further reduction of 2 posts in 2009/10. The current advertised programme will be reduced in scope in 2008/09 in order to remove the unachievable income targets. Potential Impact The reduction in support provided to Neighbourhoods in research and policy development, training, and IT will be offset in part by CLD Managers but will also require a higher level of support to be provided by other central teams within and outwith the department which specialise in these areas. Projected full year savings 194,000 4.7 Education and Training Managers Group Background The current funding allocated to the Education and Training Managers Group is being used to support 2 projects 1.Wester Hailes Education and Training Mangers group (WHETMG). This is a long established group which provides vocational training. The group includes representatives from CLD, WHEC, Stevenson College, Careers Scotland and the local community. The annual budget is used to fund one coordinator, one part-time CLD post, a range of vocational programmes and administrative support to the group. 2.West Edinburgh Community Learning and Development Partnership (WECLDP). Proposal To withdraw the funding to WHETMG for the FTE Coordinator post, the part time CLDW post and administrative support but to continue to provide 21,000 for the delivery of programmes. Potential Impact Wester Hailes is the only area in Edinburgh to receive funding for this purpose on this scale. Whilst the project has initiated valuable partnership approaches to supporting back to work and training and education programmes much of this work is now embedded into the partners programmes and the remaining budget should allow time for mainstream funding to assume full responsibility. Support currently available from this budget for the local community planning arrangements will have to be provided from the wider council infrastructure around community planning. Projected full year savings 70,000 4.8 City Literacy and Numeracy Programme (CLAN) Background CLAN Edinburgh provides literacy and numeracy programmes for adults via a number of partner organisations using Scottish Government funding of 1.181m. The provision is aimed at: people with limited initial education, young adults, unemployed, people living in disadvantaged areas, workers in low skilled jobs and people with English as a second language people with a health problems or disability affecting learning, speech, sight or hearing The project supports key partners (CEC, CLD and Libraries, Health, WEA and the Edinburgh University Settlement) whose responsibility is to deliver Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Edinburgh. The project also supports around fifty smaller organisations who contribute to the delivery of Adult Literacy. Proposal As part of the organisational review it is proposed to reduce the budget to the Clan support Team by 100,000. This measure will protect the funding allocated to the main partners of the CLAN Partnership, ensuring that front line services will be protected. CLAN has operated in the current year with a reduction of 42,000. This reduction will be made permanent and further savings of 58,000 will require to be identified. Potential Impact Discussions with CLAN indicate that the savings can be achieved without an impact on front line services by reducing central support staff costs and consolidating underspend of some 20,000 in partners expenditure. Projected full year saving 100.000 4.9 Other Budget Reductions Background Two areas of budget reductions are included in this section:- Operational budget a budget devolved to Neighbourhood teams for supplies and services to support CLD activities. Service Support Officers (SSO) overtime budget. Proposal To reduce expenditure on supplies and services in each Neighbourhood by 10,000 totalling 50,000. This has already been identified as a one off saving for 2007/08 and it is proposed to continue this on a permanent basis from April 2008. Efficiency savings have been achieved in the SSO overtime budget in the current year. The proposal is to make a permanent reduction of 28,000 in this budget. Potential Impact The Operational Budget is used to purchase materials, stationery, and resources for all CLD staff offices and Community Centres. The cumulative effect of year on year savings in this area will impact on the quality of service provision. Permanent reductions in the SSO overtime budget may add to the current difficulties in providing adequate janitorial cover in centres but the underlying problem is not the budget level but the lack of SSO's willing to work overtime. Projected full year savings 78,000 5 Financial Implications 5.1 Projected full year savings as proposed in section 4 total 850,000 as follows: Reduction of 5 Neighbourhood Senior CLDWs 202,000 Reduction of 6 CLD workers in Community Centres 206,000 Reduction of staffing in Central Team 194,000 Reduction of budget to Education and Training Management Gp 70,000 Reduction of CLAN budget 100,000 Other budget reductions 78,000 5.2 The proposals include a reduction of 16.5 FTE posts as follows: Neighbourhood Senior CLDW 5 Community Centre CLDW 6 Central Senior CLDW 2 Central CLDW/Project Worker 3.5 In addition there will be a reduction of 1.3 FTE posts associated with the Wester Hailes Education and Training Management Group. 17 January 2008