Children's Centre Consultation
Published 26th July 11
IN between finger paints, building blocks and nursery rhymes, mums and dads visiting Pinner Wood Children’s Centre took the opportunity to fill out a consultation form on the future of the borough's children’s centres.
The views gathered as part of the consultation, which finishes next month, will help shape the way the centres are run in the future, following funding cuts from central government.
Harrow mum, Nilam Janu filled out her consultation form with the help of Tuesha (seven months).
"I'm filling this out today because the centres do a great job and I want to make sure that continues. Centres like this one offer great opportunities for parents as well as children. Coming here helps my daughter to interact with other kids, it also helps me, I enjoy chatting to other mums."
Harrow Council runs 13 children's centres across the borough and is due to open a further three in the coming months, with monies previously allocated.
However, the way children's centres are funded has changed. The money from government used to be ring-fenced, but now local authorities have to allocate funding from a much smaller pot.
Portfolio Holder for Children's Services at Harrow Council, Councillor Mitzi Green, said:
"In order to ensure the valuable services provided by children's centres can continue, the Council is asking residents to help it look closely at how the centres are run. We known how valued our children's centres are so we will do everything we can to keep ours open. The money is simply not there any more so in the future, with help from our users, we will need to be creative and use our centres more efficiently. I would urge anyone who has not filled out a form yet to do so and have their views heard."
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