Agenda item

(To receive a report from Michelle Andrews, Children's Services Manager, Early Years, which provides the Forum with the Annual Report for Early Years and information on the delivery and performance of Early Years and Childcare across Lincolnshire)

The Forum received a report from Michelle Andrews, Children's Services Manager, Early Years, which provided the Forum with the Annual Report for Early Years and information on the delivery and performance of Early Years and Childcare across Lincolnshire.

In guiding the Forum through the report the Children's Services Manager, Early Years, reference was made to:

·         The six key areas of responsibility for Early Years and Childcare Support;

·         The Early Years Entitlements for 2, 3 & 4 year olds.  The Forum was advised that all three and four year olds were entitled to 15 hours a week of free early learning.  It was reported that take up for this entitlement was currently at 95% nationally and 97% in Lincolnshire;

·         Two Year Old Early Education Entitlement – It was highlighted that Lincolnshire had seen a decrease in the number of children potentially eligible based on lists produced by the Department of Work and Pensions.  In Lincolnshire as at January 2018, the take up had been was at 72.5% with 1,925 children accessing a funded place.  The take up nationally was 71%.  The Forum was advised that there were currently 571 providers registered to deliver two year old places in Lincolnshire and these consisted of 28 schools and 261 childminders;

·         Early Years Pupil Premium – It was reported that Early Years Premium was additional funding for Providers to improve the education they provided for disadvantaged three and four year olds. It was highlighted that providers could receive up to £302 a year for each eligible child, which equated to an hourly rate of 53p per child per hour;

·         Disability Access Funding – The Forum was advised that for 2017/18 a total of 111 children had qualified for disability access funding in Lincolnshire.  The Local Authority continued to encourage Providers to seek parent's permission to check eligibility for this additional funding to maximise take-up;

·         30 Hours Entitlement – The Forum were reminded that from September 2017 the extended entitlement to 30 hours free provision had been introduced, an additional 15 hours a week for working parents of three and four year olds.  It was reported that the spring term 2018, 4,671 eligibility codes had been issued to children in Lincolnshire.  It was highlighted that currently 83% of childcare providers in Lincolnshire were offering the extended 30 hours entitlement.  It was highlighted further that Lincolnshire had submitted six capital bids to the DfE for a combination of new builds, premises extensions and refurbishment projects to help build capacity to meet the demand.  The Forum was advised that these projects had yielded  £1,594,138 of capital funding and as a result would create 259 new 30 hour places across the county;

·         Childcare Sufficiency – The Forum was advised that Providers had been supported to review their capacity to meet the 30 hours demand.  There continued to be a significant increase in the number of newly registered Providers opening up around the county each year.  In addition to this there had also been an increase in the number of schools introducing Early Years Provision;

·         Quality Provision/Educational Outcomes (EYFS) – The Forum was advised that the Early Years Foundation Stage Profiles for 2017 had shown that 69.6% of children in Lincolnshire had achieved a Good Level of Development 0.9% lower than the national average of 70.5%.  Further details relating to the EYFS were shown on pages 40/41 of the report;

·         Quality of Providers Judged by Ofsted – It was reported that 95% of Early Years and Childcare providers in Lincolnshire had achieved a Good or Outstanding Judgement 2% higher than the national average;

·         Workforce and Professional Development – The Forum was advised that the EYCC continued to support the development of the early years & childcare workforce across Lincolnshire.  Details of the training and development opportunities for the sector were shown on pages 42/43 of the report;

·         Inclusion and Early Intervention – It was noted that inclusion support was now embedded with the Early Years Locality Teams; and that the Early Years Inclusion Fund continued to enable early year's providers to enhance support for children with SEND.  The Forum was advised that information relating to the pilot process for Inclusion Funding being carried out in Lincolnshire would be the subject of a future report for the Forum's consideration;

·         Partnership Working – The report highlighted that EYCC was committed to working in partnership with locality teams and other agencies across Lincolnshire to raise educational outcomes for young children; and

·         EYCC Priorities for 2018/19 – The Forum were asked to support the 2018/19 priorities; and core business proposals as detailed on page 47 of the report.

RESOLVED

1.    That the Annual Report for Early Years be noted.

2.    That the priorities for Early Years and Childcare for 2018/19 as detailed on page 47 of the report be received.