A ROW has erupted over a lack of consultation to cut services at Sure Start centres across Kirklees.
Union chiefs at Unison claim it means parents are being prevented from trying to protect services at the children’s centres.
Unison has criticised the Kirklees Council consultation on cuts to more than half of the Sure Start centres in the district.
Officials want to reduce services at 17 of the 32 children’s centres to save £1.5m in the next two years.
But the consultation – run by private company QA Research – does not ask participants if they wish to keep full services at every Sure Start.
Kirklees launched the nine-week consultation on the proposed changes in November.
The nine-page document drawn up by QA Research explains the council’s proposals before asking how strongly the consultee supports aspects of the plan.
Unison lead steward Graham Paisley has condemned the process as “an expensive sham.”
He added: “We believe the questionnaires issued by the council are framed in such a way that the council will get replies which suit its purpose of cutting universal services and mothballing 17 children’s centres.
“The questionnaires don’t ask if you want to end universal provision.
“If you’ve already made up your mind and you’re only asking questions to get the answers you want then the consultation is a waste of time.”
Mr Paisley criticised the council for using the York-based company.
“We have people in the council who specialise in doing reviews of service,” he said.
“They could have been used rather than paying someone else to do it.”
QA Research could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The Examiner asked Kirklees Council how much the consultation would cost.
A council spokesman replied: “The maximum cost of their work will be £24,000 which is only marginally higher than the approximate £20,000 it would have cost in-house.
“QA Research was selected after a tendering process. They offered value for money and also have specialist expertise and experience having worked on children and young people consultations with other councils.
“Using a specialist outside company meant we could start the consultation earlier and speed up the whole review process,.
“We are keen to finalise this review in the spring in order to give some certainty to local families but, if all the work was being done in-house, issues such as staff capacity and time pressures would have meant the review process continued well into 2012.
“Using the outside company has also given us flexibility to add more consultation events and reach more people during the nine-week consultation period.’’
He added: “The council is using an outside company to handle some, though not all, of the consultation work and it is common practice nationally to use a mixture of outsourced work and in-house expertise.
“We are very mindful that the review of children’s centres is an uncertain time for many people and it was therefore important for the work to be not only thorough but also timely.
“There are no plans to close any children’s centres in Kirklees, but the views we receive through the consultation will help to shape the decisions that are made about these important services.”
Sure Start Children’s centres were set up by the previous Labour government in 1998.
Sure Starts offer a range of support to parents and pre-school children.
The help includes:
Health visitors and breastfeeding support groups.
Childcare and early learning.
Advice to parents on healthy eating and managing money.
Support to find work or get into training.
Prenatal and parenting classes.
There are currently 3,600 children’s centres across England.
At least 47 of them are due to close because of the public spending squeeze.
Up to 90% of Sure Starts will have their budgets cut this year.
Kirklees officers have drawn up a plan to cut the £22.8m budget for children’s centres by £1.5m between 2011 and 2013.
The plan involves keeping full support at 15 ‘lead’ centres in poorer areas while offering fewer services at 17 ‘associate’ Sure Starts in wealthier areas.
The proposed linkings include:
Golcar as lead children’s centre with Slaithwaite as associate
Crosland Moor with Holme Valley North
Ravensthorpe with Mirfield
The Chestnut Centre at Deighton with Paddock and Lindley
Newsome with Almondbury and Holme Valley South
Huddersfield town centre with Rawthorpe and Dalton
Thornhill with Denby Dale and Kirkburton.
