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Partnership process comes under fire

The legality of some of the Government's guidance on how Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships in England should operate has been questioned by a local authority after its inquiry into a shortfall of places for three-year-olds. John Sinott, chief executive of Leicestershire County Council, expressed 'serious doubts' about the guidance produced by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), in a hard-hitting report published by the council last week. The report followed an inquiry the council had ordered into what led to the parents of many three-year-olds in Leicestershire being told in September that their children would lose their free childcare place from January due to a funding shortfall after the council underestimated demand for places (News, 4 October). The situation was only resolved two weeks ago when the DfES agreed to give Leicestershire a Pounds 580,000 grant to fund the places.
The legality of some of the Government's guidance on how Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships in England should operate has been questioned by a local authority after its inquiry into a shortfall of places for three-year-olds.

John Sinott, chief executive of Leicestershire County Council, expressed 'serious doubts' about the guidance produced by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), in a hard-hitting report published by the council last week. The report followed an inquiry the council had ordered into what led to the parents of many three-year-olds in Leicestershire being told in September that their children would lose their free childcare place from January due to a funding shortfall after the council underestimated demand for places (News, 4 October). The situation was only resolved two weeks ago when the DfES agreed to give Leicestershire a 580,000 grant to fund the places.

In the report Mr Sinott said the DfES had put local education authority officers and partnership members 'in a difficult and confusing situation' because it had said 'in fairly direct terms' how business should be conducted, with the emphasis put on the partnership rather than the LEA. He added, 'There are now serious doubts about the lawfulness of some aspects of the DfES guidance as to the operation of early years partnerships. As to why the guidance is wrong, it would appear that the DfES did not attempt to, or could not, change the law to enable them to work in their preferred way.

'The LEA officers and partnership members were under considerable pressure to implement Government policy and to spend significant new funding. To challenge the DfES guidance would not have been a natural reaction.'

The lengthy report made 19 recommendations, the first of which was that Leicestershire invite the DfES to joint discussions about 'the true nature of the partnership arrangement in the context of the legal framework which underpins it, and the form, content and lawfulness of the DfES guidance'.

As for the recent problems, Mr Sinott said there was 'no case' for disciplinary action against any staff because 'a poorly-considered decision does not warrant such action.'

The National Day Nurseries Association described the report as 'strong stuff'. Its chief executive, Rosemary Murphy, said, 'This report calls into question the whole notion of partnerships and their responsibilities, and highlights the difficulties of local authorities who have the ultimate legal responsibility for partnerships but whose hands are tied by the DfES. We know local authorities have not been happy about this and are surprised at how long it has taken for one to make a stand.'

The DfES said, 'The legal position of EYDCPs and LEAs is laid down in the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, and is reflected in paragraphs 14 and 15 of the Leicestershire report. The current DfES Strategic Planning Guidance (issued January 2001), under the section entitled 'The Partnership', refers directly to the statutory basis underpinning partnerships.

'The DfES is always happy to discuss with partnerships any points in the guidance which they feel might still require clarification. Officials have already been in contact with Leicestershire about setting up a meeting.'