Field Value Title Barnsley In Depth Children & Young People's ...

Barnsley in Depth Children’s and Young People’s Report – 2008/09 Information• Good provision of information;• Transparency in how the available levels of support are determined;• Integrated assessment;• Participation of disabled children and their families in local services;• Accessible feedback and complaints procedures.The largest investment in the Aiming High programme is for thetransformation of short break services. BMBC receives funding of £259krevenue and £128k capital in 2009/10 and £836k revenue and £299k capitalin 2010/11 to support this transformation. Plans are progressing to use thisfunding to ensure there is a wide a range of quality short break provisionwhich includes a full spectrum of inclusion to play and leisure activities, tomore specialist short break residential provision. Funding is also being usedto develop key posts to ensure families have access to good information andare supported to be involved in service development.5.5 Childcare InformationSince the implementation of the 2006 Childcare Act, the local authority hashad a statutory duty to ensure that there are sufficient childcare places tomeet the needs of local people. Changes in unemployment levels, workingpatterns and affordability for local people are just some of the indicators thelocal authority has to consider when meeting its duty. In addition, they haveto manage the market, including the option of incentivising the private andvoluntary sector to provide sufficient childcare places.The following information has been supplied by the Early Childhood Servicewhich receives information relating to registered childcare via the Ofsteddatabase.5.5.1 Childcare Places by WardAs at 31 March 2009, Barnsley had 5,693 childcare places (age 0-14 years)compared to 6,711 the previous March. This reduction has beenpredominantly in the childminding sector, where over 50 childminders havede-registered over the past year, mainly due to Ofsted’s data cleanse wherechildminders are no longer operating. In addition, the Families InformationService cleansed their database to remove all playgroups that were dualregistered as day nurseries.Please note – The calculation for childcare places is based on counting out of schoolprovision as separate: breakfast/after school/holiday places, although they are all at thesame facility. For comparable calculations, the same format has been used this year, but ithas been recognised that this should be reviewed over the forthcoming year.- 63 -