allocation of captial grant funding

Leicestershire County Council, NDNA and other organisations have developed a partnership on the delivery of the early years capital funding. Following the announcement of the funding, lead officers met with local representatives of the childcare organisations to discuss the purpose of the fund and to identify and shape priorities. This was also an opportunity to use the findings from the sufficiency audit to inform the initial priorities.

Detailed and useful discussions took place about the process for distributing the funding and it was agreed that the process should be simple and straightforward. The agreed criteria has been issued to all PVI providers and they have also been invited to network meetings to find out more and ask questions about the process. Providers that want to apply have been asked to complete a simple expression of interest form. A panel has been established to look at the initial expressions of interest and to invite those that meet the criteria to make full applications. The full applications will be decided by a panel that will include providers (usual procedures regarding declarations of interest will be observed to ensure that no panel member can influence proceedings in order to make any financial gain)

Leicestershire County Council believes that a partnership approach will generate the best outcomes for children and families in Leicestershire.The vast majority of our providers know what they need to invest in in order to improve quality and ultimately improve their Ofsted gradings.When this knowledge is combined with the market management knowledge that the County Council holds, this results in a higher likelihood of resources being directed where they are needed.