Birmingham City Council is leading a review of the way that Early Years Services are provided in order to ensure that every child living in Birmingham has the same chance to have a good start in life.
As part of the review, Birmingham City Council is running a consultation period from Monday 30th November to 28th February on how people want these key services delivered in the future. The consultation document and questions outlines plans and provides the opportunity to tell the Council what you think. A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said:
“Everyone’s views are important and we would ask that you share the information about this consultation with those people who any changes might affect.
“There are eight questions that we would like you to respond to but we also welcome any other comments you might wish to make in relation to Early Years Services in Birmingham.”
The Early Years Consultation questions can be found at https://www.birminghambeheard.org.uk/people-1/early-years-1. Alternatively, paper copies of the consultation questions will be available from Children’s Centres and Health Centres.
Early Years Service
Early Years Services are provided to support parents from the time a child is conceived up until the age of five. How well a child does in their early years has a huge impact on how they do in the rest of their lives.
Birmingham’s Early Years Services provide support to around 100,000 parents and 80,000 children at any one time. A spokesperson from Birmingham City Council added:
“To enable us to deliver the results we want for children and parents we will need to radically rethink how we will work in the future.”
The plans
The ambitious plans surrounding the project include creating a new integrated Health and Wellbeing Offer for parents by changing the way that the following services are delivered:
- Children’s centres;
- Health visiting and family nurse partnerships;
- Parenting support services;
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding support services
Open forums
Birmingham City Council also conducted a number of open forums for those who were interested in the proposals including sessions at The Pavillion (25th January), Bournville College (26th January) and Birmingham City Football Club (28th January).