05/11/03 - Cumbria to go for Beacon Status for Early Years

Cumbria County Council is now seeking Government approval for Beacon Council Status for its much-praised Early Years and Childcare Service because it truly believes it has a national role to play in helping other regions develop similar integrated services.   

The Beacon Council Status scheme aims to identify the best performing authorities, which act as centres of excellence from which other local authorities can learn. Co-ordinated by the Office of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, nearly 200 Beacon Council Status awards have been made since the Government launched the scheme four years ago.  About 50 awards will be made in the next round with Early Years and Childcare (the Sure Start agenda) a key category for examination with the winners being announced in April 2004.

Joan Stocker, Cabinet Spokesman for Education, says 

“Cumbria’s excellent service deserves national recognition because it really does lead by example with numerous example of good practice. Indeed, several other local authorities are already seeking out Cumbria’s expertise, keen to adapt their own services to the model developed here. Some counties want to learn about how we consult with our service users, which is helping to identify the needs of the area and develop an integrated service which responds to the priorities of partners like the Police, Connexions, the health service and regeneration agencies.  Cumbria County Council has demonstrated that it is possible to work effectively at local level and draw together all the key organisations to meet the needs of the community.  This administration recognised early on that the Early Years and Childcare service needed to be consolidated under one structure to improve performance and focus.  Since then a flexible and forward-thinking structure has been developed with an excellent mixture of skills, knowledge and experience to deliver real benefits to our communities.”

Cumbria County Council has a proven track record of delivering national objectives in an innovative and supportive way to meet the needs of diverse communities in Cumbria. It does this through dynamic partnerships with providers and service users across the range of statutory, voluntary and private sectors. The Council wishes to be at the forefront of the Government’s Sure Start agenda, which places great emphasis on local authorities delivering expanded services that embrace childcare, health and family support. 

An example of one of the innovative schemes currently running in Barrow is the new ‘virtual’ Children’s Centre.  Not housed in one defined building, the Children’s Centre will, in effect, be a roving array of services established in a variety of locations throughout the borough.   

Kerry Walker, Senior Development Officer in Barrow, says:   

“It’s an initiative from Cumbria’s Early Years and Childcare Service but it reflects the aims and aspirations of the Government’s Sure Start programme which emphasises the importance of combined childcare and health and education opportunities for communities.  Barrow has some of the most deprived wards in the county - partly as a result of ongoing economic restructuring - and it is vital that resources are expanded and adapted to meet the needs on the ground.  A £600,000 proposal, awaiting County Council approval, would see the Children’s Centre operating out of two existing buildings on Bram Longstaffe and Greengate, but using other community locations wherever possible, such as schools and community centres.  It’s about taking the services out to the people, and not about expecting them to come to the services so a community centre could be brought up to Ofsted standards for nursery use but other professional such as health visitors, speech therapists, community support workers and midwives could visit the centre on a need basis.”   

For more information on childcare services in the area please contact the Children’s Information Service on 08457 125737.