An internal inquiry has been launched into what led a council to withdraw funded pre-school places from three-year-old children from the start of next term.
Harry Barber, leader of the Conservative-led Leicestershire County Council, said last week that the inquiry was expected to take about seven working days. It would look into two main issues - the status of the county's Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership and its ability to make decisions, and how the nursery education grant for three-year-olds has been managed in the county. He added that Kate McKenna, chair of the EYDCP, supported the inquiry.
The inquiry follows the council's under-estimation of demand for free places for three-year-olds, resulting in a 215,000 shortfall. In September it wrote to 300 providers telling them that some children with free places this term would not have them from January unless they lived in certain postcode areas.
Two weeks ago a Labour councillor, Max Hunt, revealed that the council had relied on information dating back to 1991 to exclude 19 areas judged most affluent from being eligible for the free places. But latest Government figures show that ten of those areas no longer meet the description. On the EYDCP's behalf, Leicestershire recently put in a bid to the Department for Education and Skills for 580,000 to deal with the forecasted demand for places next term. However, the council has reserves in the region of 4m and 5m.
Mr Hunt said the council had blamed the EYDCP for the problem, yet it had given the EYDCP no other option but to cut the number of funded places. Amanda Watson, a single mother from Countesthorpe whose son will lose his place and who is leading a campaign to have the funding restored for all families, said the situation was 'like the local amateur dramatic society's annual farce'.
She said, 'We don't want an inquiry, we just want the places. The county council has more than enough extra money to fund these places. What it doesn't seem to realise is that parents can't plan for the spring term until this matter is settled. Many may have to give up their jobs if they can't get places for their children and the playgroups face uncertainty because they don't know how many places will be filled.'
A spokesman for the county council said it could not use some of its surplus resources while the issue was being sorted out because it was 'not considered a prudent use of resources at this stage'. He added that the inquiry should be completed by the end of this week.
