That the Torbay Childcare Sufficiency Report (September 2018) set out at Appendix 1 to the submitted report be approved, enabling its publication.

The Childcare Sufficiency Report 2018 provides an overview of the local child care market, changes in the supply and demand for places and the actions necessary to ensure these are sufficient, accessible child care places in Torbay.

The Childcare Sufficiency Report 2018 takes into account significant changes in Government Policy including the ongoing expansion of Free Early Education Entitlement (FEEE) for disadvantaged two year olds and the extended entitlement (30 hours per week) for working parents of three and four year olds which came into effect from September 2017.

Following its approval, the Childcare Sufficiency Report 2018 will be published on the Council’s website as well as providing the evidence base for the ongoing dialogue with providers, partners and stakeholders on the development of future capacity.

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This decision will come into force and may be implemented on 16 November 2018 unless the call-in procedure is triggered (as set out in Standing Orders in relation to Overview and Scrutiny).

The Childcare Act 2006 placed a duty on local authorities to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient childcare for working parents, or parents who are studying or training for employment, for children aged 0 – 14 years (or up to 18 years for disabled children).

As part of these duties, Torbay Council was required to report annually to Elected Members on the local arrangements to ensure those duties meet and ensure any report is available and accessible for parents.

The submitted Early Years Sufficiency Annual Report demonstrated that there were sufficient childcare places in Torbay to meet the statutory duty to ensure sufficiency of places for children entitled to a funded place.  However, there was a need for growth to accommodate the growing numbers of young children in Torbay through increased birth rates and migration from other areas (5% of the Torbay population are aged under 5 years old and may require a childcare place).  There was also a need to accommodate children aged under 2 who are not yet funded. 

The Elected Mayor considered the recommendation of the Policy Development and Decision Group (Joint Commissioning Team) at the meeting on 5 November 2018 and his decision is set out above.

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