Hands Off Our childrens Centres

Just back from an excellent lobby our of Council meeting against the proposed privatisation of five Childrens' Centres. It was one of the best public displays we have had in ages about 60 people with placards t-shirts and large foam hands giving the clear message of "hands off our childrens' centres" The crowd included staff, Trade Union activists and a sizable number of parents some with their children who attend the centres.

The Council since deciding to privatise in July has spent a large amount of its time trying to pretend the Trade Unions and parents have been scaremongering. The visible mobilisation of Parents against Privatisation combined with UNISON has put Elected member's and Councillors on the backfoot. Having initially claimed they were obliged to privatise (sorry they don't like the P word apparently in Labour Haringey preferring such cuddly versions as outsourcing and partnership) they have retreated from a procurement exercise to "exploring what added value not for profit groups might bring" However we have resolved to keep up the pressure till this plan is dropped as we are clear only democratically accountable and controlled services are good enough for our Borough.

We have also made it very clear to Councillors that Not for profit and Charity Sectors are not the panacea they may think. The lead member for Children Cllr Santry seemed very annoyed when at our Consultative Committee I highlighted Freemantle as an example of a not for profit charity. When she said nothing I remind her of our own not for profit organisation Community Support Services which ran elders homes and Learning Disabilities homes into the ground while slashing staff wages before Haringey was forced to end the sorry experiment by re-nationalising them (or in-sourcing I presume!)

Clearly there is a government agenda to marketise childcare but it is not a requirement and Council's of whatever political hue must not be allowed to claim it is unchallenged. We in Haringey are rightly proud of the tremendous social inclusion work which comes from our Childrens Centres both for the children and parents and will fight to ensure this is not ended.

The Council are due to report in December with recommendations having backpedalled away from a procurement exercise but they have refused to rule out the transfer out of local government of both staff and services. Unison and Parents against Privatisation will continue to work together to see these plans dropped.