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Report RE: Sure Start Idiots
Original Post
RE: Sure Start Idiots - 16-10-08 23:46
by: whmon
You're absolutey right MOFITW, when I said 'government' I actually did mean the way policies are filtered down to the LA's.
I believe that government funding is passed to LA's but is not 'ring-fenced' i.e, the funding is passed to the LA who use their own discretion to distribute it. In the first instance it is spent on their own expenses (EYP services etc) and provision in schools. Schools are funded on the amount of places they provide, not on take-up of places. Therefore, if a school has 100 nursery places, but only 10 actual children, they are funded for 100 places!
Any funding left over is distributed to the PVI sector. Presently, we receive £6.98 per child per 2 and a half hour session, but we've had just over £5 recently.
It's the waste of money coming out of the pot BEFORE it reaches the PVI that is most annoying. For example, our EY team sent out a training document last year (basically, a list of what training was available in the coming year). This was a glossy, ring-bound affair that my partner in the printing business estimated at a cost of £15 per unit. It was postaged stamped at £3.50, so this cost £18.50. BUT, for some reason they send me 3 of everything. I received 3 copies of this at a cost of £55.50! FOR SOMETHING THAT COULD HAVE BEEN EMAILED AT A COST OF PRACTICALLY NOTHING.
I pointed this out to them, they were shocked, the next issue of the training document was due, they only sent me one. However, they'd gone all out to make it bigger and glossier and heavier than ever before. Postage £5
Still getting 3 of everything else. My EY person hand-delivered me 3 childcare surveys, all of which were absolutely identical other than their titles. Titles being 'Nursery Provision', 'Preschool Provision', and 'Out of Schools Provision'. All had exactly the same questions. It gets worse, because I get 3 of everything I got 3 each of all three surveys, a total of nine surveys all asking exactly the same questions! Furthermore, the EY person was hand delivering thm all over the county!!! Wage costs? Fuel costs? Printing and paper costs? (not least environmental issues.)
Anyway people, all of this is going on, all of the funding is being thrown away before the residue can be shared out between the PVI. Honestly, words fail me.