CAMPUS SERVICES/FX PLUS
BUSINESS CASE
Project: Childcare Review
Change Record
Date
Author
3 Dec 13
12 Dec 13
17 Dec 13
20 Dec 13
9 Jan 14
24 Jan 14
4 Feb 14
Gill Preston
Gill Preston
Gill Preston
Gill Preston
Gill Preston
Ingrid Herscher
Gill Preston
Version Change Reference
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
1.0
Initial draft
Updated for sponsors’ comments
Updated for further comments
Updated for further comments
Updated for Exeter Steering Group comments
Update for Cornwall Steering Group comments
i
Contents
1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................. 1
2
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................ 1
3
BACKGROUND.............................................................................................................................................................. 1
3.1
STAFF AND STUDENT POPULATIONS AND LOCATIONS ................................................................................................................ 1
3.2
CHILDCARE PROVISION ....................................................................................................................................................... 1
3.2.1
Overview .............................................................................................................................................................. 1
3.2.2
Family Centre - Streatham ................................................................................................................................... 2
3.2.3
Woodlane Day Nursery ........................................................................................................................................ 2
3.2.4
Truro Campus - Royal Cornwall Hospital .............................................................................................................. 2
3.3
CHILDCARE REVIEWS .......................................................................................................................................................... 3
3.3.1
Exeter Childcare Project 2007 .............................................................................................................................. 3
3.3.2
Falmouth/Penryn Nursery Childcare Survey 2012/13 .......................................................................................... 3
3.4
SUBSIDISED CHILDCARE PROVISION ....................................................................................................................................... 3
4
DRIVERS FOR CHANGE ................................................................................................................................................. 3
5
PROPOSED REVIEW APPROACH ................................................................................................................................... 5
5.1
INDICATIVE SCOPE ............................................................................................................................................................. 5
5.2
OBJECTIVES...................................................................................................................................................................... 5
5.3
INDICATIVE PLAN............................................................................................................................................................... 6
5.3.1
Recruitment of the childcare consultant .............................................................................................................. 6
5.3.2
Childcare review ................................................................................................................................................... 7
5.4
REQUIREMENTS OF THE REVIEW ........................................................................................................................................... 7
5.4.1
Options to be investigated ................................................................................................................................... 7
5.4.2
Assumptions ......................................................................................................................................................... 7
5.4.3
Specific areas to explore during the review ......................................................................................................... 8
5.5
KEY RISKS AND ISSUES ........................................................................................................................................................ 8
5.6
DEPENDENCIES ................................................................................................................................................................. 8
5.7
RESOURCING .......................................................................................................................ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.
6
GOVERNANCE .............................................................................................................................................................. 9
ii
1 Executive Summary
This document presents the business case for a Childcare Review which will be a joint review between the
University of Exeter and FXPlus.
The University of Exeter has 17,000 students and 4,000 staff spread across 5 number of locations in Devon
and Cornwall. Falmouth University has 4120 students and 421 staff and is located across 2 campuses in
Cornwall.
Exeter and Falmouth Universities are committed to providing high quality childcare services to their staff and
students. Exeter has an inhouse nursery located on the Streatham Campus. FXPlus has an inhouse nursery
located on the Falmouth Campus. Exeter ran a review of its childcare provision in 2007 and FXPlus in
2012/13.
The existing childcare provision for both Universities is no longer seen as adequate. This situation has become
more critical because of the need for universities to provide a more favourable environment for female
academics to pursue careers Higher Edcuation. High quality childcare provision is seen as a major enabler to
achieving this. As well as this, the nursery building at Exeter is beyond its economic life and needs replacing
whilst for Falmouth/Penryn the current location of the nursery precludes the majority of the staff and
students from using it.
It is proposed to employ an independent childcare specialist to run a 12 week review of the childcare
provision provided by University of Exeter and FXPlus. The review will consist of 3 stages: defining the service
requirement, assessing the options and finalising recommendations.
A procurement exercise will be run to select the specialist which will take 5 weeks.
A number of requirements of the review have been specified including the options for service delivery,
assumptions and specific areas to explore during the review.
The key risks for the review are associated with failure to appropriately engage parents and Unions during the
review.
The review will be project managed by Gill Preston from University of Exeter’s Change Team. There will be a
sponsor group who will co-ordinate activities between Exeter and FX Plus and a Steering Group for Exeter and
FXPlus.
1
2 Introduction
This document presents the business case for a Childcare Review which will be a joint project between the
University of Exeter and FXPlus.1 A joint approach offers:
 A consistent analysis of what high quality childcare provision means to staff and students
 A cost efficient way of hiring a specialist nursery consultant to conduct the review
 The potential to explore a greater range of options for nursery provision that may be commercially more
attractive if a decision is made to procure external nursery providers.
For University of Exeter, a joint review with FXPlus enables it to ensure that there is a comparable staff and student
experience across all campuses.
The Childcare Review Steering Group’s support for this review to proceed is requested
3 Background
3.1 Staff and student populations and locations
The University of Exeter has 17,000 students and 4,000 staff spread across a number of locations in Devon
and Cornwall including:
 Streatham – the main University Campus based in Exeter
 St Lukes – a smaller campus in Exeter
 2 hospitals where academic staff, professional services staff and students from the University Medical
School are based:
 Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital based in Exeter
 Royal Cornwall Hospital near Truro.
 Penryn - a shared campus with Falmouth University
Falmouth University has 4120 students and 421 staff and is located across 2 campuses in Cornwall:
 Penryn – the main University campus
 Falmouth – a smaller campus located 5 miles from Penryn.
In addition to staff directly employed by the Universities, there are also staff based at Penryn and Falmouth
campuses who belong to FXPlus, a joint venture between the Universities, which provides the facilities
management on the Penryn and Falmouth campus.
3.2 Childcare provision
3.2.1 Overview
Exeter and Falmouth Universities are committed to provide high quality childcare services to their students
and staff and provide the following for their staff and students:

For University of Exeter, staff and students based in the Exeter region:
 Access for staff to the government childcare voucher scheme
 Access for staff and students to a family care centre located on the Streatham campus run by Campus
Services.

For University of Exeter, staff and students based on the Penryn and Truro campuses:
 Access for staff to the government childcare voucher scheme
1
Falmouth Univeristy is involved through the FXPlus Board.
1
 Access for staff and students to a family care centre located on the Falmouth Campus run by FXPlus.

For Falmouth University and FXPlus staff and students:
 Access for staff to the government childcare voucher scheme
 Access for Staff and students to a family care centre located on the Falmouth Campus run by FXPlus
 A 10% discount for staff using the family centre.
3.2.2 Family Centre - Streatham
The Family Centre was established in 1973; providing high quality care and education for up to 53 earlyyears children of students and staff2; providing a week day childcare, and a 2 week summer play
scheme. It accepts children of the University’s staff and students as well as those of and parents outside of
the University. Currently the majority of places are taken up with parents connected with the University.
The Centre has an excellent track record of childcare provision and is currently rated Outstanding by
Ofsted. It is a highly regarded part of the University’s service provision.
The centre is a University run service and is located in a purpose built building within its own grounds
onthe Streatham Campus.
3.2.3 Woodlane Day Nursery
The Woodlane Day Nursery in Falmouth was formally run by Falmouth College of Arts and came under FX Plus
management in 2004. It provides 37 places for children aged 1 to 5, with the After School Care and Holiday
Club including children to 8 years old. It accepts children of the University’s staff and students and children of
parents outside of the University. It currently has a 50:50 split between parents who are connected to the
Universities and those that are not. The setting was rated as satisfactory by Ofsted when last inspected in
2008. There has been a recent Ofsted inspection, the outcome of which is not yet publically available. The
Nursery was the first setting in Cornwall to achieve a 5 star rating under the Nippers Nutrition programme. It
has an excellent reputation with both universities, FX Plus and the local community.
The nursery is housed in an adapted building on the Falmouth Campus, with separate areas for younger and
older children and has an enclosed, safe and pleasant play area.
3.2.4 Truro Campus - Royal Cornwall Hospital
There is currently no nursery provision on site at the Truro Campus at the Royal Cornwall Hospital. Staff and
students use one of 3 locally based commercial nurseries. Given the relatively low numbers of students and
staff and their demographic, it is unlikely that University of Exeter would consider creating its own childcare
provision on site. However there are 2 options for childcare provision that would be worthwhile exploring:
the potential to:
 provide pre-booked spaces at existing nurseries to ease the availability of places
 partner with the NHS to provide a facility run from a re-purposed building on site.
2
This currently equates to 80 children because some children attend on a part time basis.
2
3.3 Childcare reviews
3.3.1 Exeter Childcare Project 2007
In 2007 University of Exeter ran a review of the Family Centre and decided to tender a contract for an
external provider to build and run a nursery on the Streatham Campus. Following the 2007 review, the
University decided on an outsourced build and run option for its childcare provision and commenced
procurement on this basis. The project was not completed and a number of lessons learnt from it have
been incorporated in the approach to the current review including the importance of:
 appropriately consulting nursery staff and parents in the review
 ensuring that the contract tendered is attractive to the external market before it is tendered should a
decision be made to outsource childcare provision.
There is a strong feeling that the 2007 Review clearly defined the requirements for childcare and these are
still relevant today. However changes to the childcare environment and the University’s requirements for
childcare provision now need to be factored in. These include:
 Changes to Early Years funding and also future plans to change it further
 Changes in the local childcare provision e.g. opening and closing of new nurseries, holiday clubs and
wrap around school care
 The growth and projected growth in staff and student populations
 Requirements of Athena Swan.
For this reason a further review is deemed necessary to ensure that any future plans for childcare
provision are based on full appreciation of the current situation.
3.3.2 Falmouth/Penryn Nursery Childcare Survey 2012/13
In 2012/13, FXPlus ran a survey of staff and students regarding childcare provision. 217 responses were
gathered. The findings of that survey led FXPlus to wish to conduct this review.
3.4 Subsidised Childcare provision
The government currently provides parents of children between the ages of 3-5 years, 15 hours of free
childcare provision. This has represented a financial challenge to nurseries because the level of
government funding often does not cover the true cost of the childcare and the legislation does not allow
nursery to charge a top up fee. The Family Centre and Woodlane Nursery have children who receive
government funded childcare.
There has been discussion within government circles to extend that free provision for all 2 year olds which
would place a further burden on the nurseries. This review needs to include a consideration of how any
future childcare provision would accommodate the extension of government provision and remain
financially viable.
4 Drivers for change
For both Exeter and Falmouth Universities’ the existing childcare provision is seen as no longer adequate.
Parents perceive the following gaps in the accessibility of provision:

The hours for both nurseries do not cover the working day: the Family Centre opens from 8.45am to
5pm with additional payment required to extend those hours to 8.15am to 5.30pm whilst Woodlane is
open 8am-5.30pm. Many academics and professional services staff work between the hours of 8-6pm.
Students also have lectures and need to use learning facilities outside these times. This is particularly an
issue for parents based at St Lukes because of the parking issues on campus: by the time that they drop
off their child and travel to St Lukes, they struggle to find a car parking space at St Lukes.
3

There are critical gaps in the current scope of provision for both nurseries:

The Family Centre does not provide all year round cover – it is open 43 weeks a year with an
optional 2 week summer play scheme

Woodlane does not take children under the age of 1.

The range of childcare in both Exeter and Falmouth/Penryn is not extensive enough: there are requests
for pre and after school care, holiday clubs for school age children and pop up nurseries to provide
provision during Open days and conferences.

Both nurseries run at full capacity with wait lists. Since they were established, the student and staff
numbers on the Exeter and Penryn/Falmouth campuses have increased significantly with no
corresponding increase in nursery provision. These numbers are due to continue to increase;
exacerbating the situation.

Medical students and staff based at the hospitals face challenges in accessing care:

For those based in the Truro Campus, there is no on site nursery provision. The 3 local nurseries
are relatively small and extremely popular so it is difficult to get spaces at the nursery

For those based at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, the on site hospital nursery is for NHS
staff only and they do not get access to parking at the hospital to enable them to use a car to
reach another nursery.
The need for good quality childcare provision has become more critical for Exeter and Penryn/Falmouth
campuses because of the accreditation schemes aimed at increasing the number of senior female academics
in Universities (these include Athena Swan and GECM). These accreditation schemes are becoming
mandatory requirements for colleges to be able to apply for external research funding: for example by 2015
the NIHR requires any Medical school applying for its grants to have Athena Swan silver accreditation. The
accreditation schemes focus on the number of active female academics within the University. Research by
University of Exeter has demonstrated that there is a significant fall in the number of female academics at the
age in which they have children and a factor in this the lack of childcare provision to enable them to return to
work3.
As well as having joint drivers for reviewing childcare provision, there are ones specific to each area:

Exeter


The current nursery building is 26 years old. Although it is serviceable, the costs of maintaining it
are increasing and it will reach a point where is no longer fit for use.
Falmouth/Penryn

The current location of the nursery precludes the majority of staff based in the Falmouth/Penryn
area from using it:
 Staff are reluctant to drive up to 10 miles out of their way to leave their children at the
nursery; a journey which, given the opening hours, would result in them being late for
work
 Parking restrictions on the Penryn Campus mean that some parents would face using a 40
minute round trip ride on public transport on a daily basis to leave their children at
nursery.
Although not a main driver for this review, it is worth noting that the Nursery Manager at Exeter has
identified that there are a significant number of partners of international students and staff who cannot
afford to use the Family Centre but might benefit from building a social network around other parents. It is
3
The wish to support academics is such that in February and March 2014, it is hoped to run a pilot pop up nursery
during 2 Open days on the Penryn Campus. The pilot is being sponsored as part of the Athena Swan project.
4
suggested that any future provision should include an appreciation of the need for a space for informal
parent groups to meet; even if this is just the use of an existing room and not a purpose build area.
5 Proposed review approach
It is proposed to run a 12 week review of the Childcare provision provided by University of Exeter and FXPlus
to recommend how to meet the current and future needs for childcare provision of staff and students.
The replacement of the existing provision is a highly sensitive subject because it may have implications for
staff employed by the University and FXPlus and current parents have an extremely strong attachment to the
existing nurseries. Any review will need to be conducted in a thorough, impartial and transparent way and
involve a significant amount of engagement with all stakeholders. For these reasons, it is proposed that the
review is run by an independent childcare specialist who has no connection with existing nurseries.
The review will consist of 3 stages:
 Defining the service requirement – to ascertain what the current and future requirements for childcare
provision are
 Assessing the options – determining how far each option will meet the service requirement
 Finalising recommendations which will then be presented to VCEG and the FXPlus Board.
5.1 Indicative scope
The following are considered to be in scope for the childcare review
• Childcare provision for children of staff and students based at Streatham, St Lukes, Penryn, Falmouth,
RD&E including RILD building
•
Truro Campus – for provision of pre-booked childcare places in existing nurseries and a potential
partnership with the NHS to provide an onsite nursery
•
Childcare provision for children up to the age of 16
•
Existing childcare facilities at Streatham and Falmouth
•
The service provision – staff, hours available, weeks of year, number of children
•
The facilities – building and equipment
•
Service offerings – day care, clubs (holiday, breakfast, after school, language), adhoc for special events,
pre-booked nursery
•
Commercial arrangements – in house, outsource, partnering
•
Nursery provision for people outside of university staff and students
•
Alignment of provision with future political policies in relation to subsidised childcare.
The following are considered to be out of scope:
 Transitional arrangements
 Childcare provision for over 16s
 Methods by which any proposed new facilities would be funded.
5.2
Objectives
The overall objectives of the Childcare project are:

Meet the demand for places and childcare services of staff and students for childcare in Exeter and
Cornwall
5

Ensure that the provision is accessible and of high quality

Have a model for childcare which provides the best value for money for the universities and parents.
The objectives for the Childcare review are:

To have an agreed view of level of childcare provision that the universities seek to provide.

To have a recommended approach for providing the desired childcare provision including:

indicative timescales and cost

whether it will be a joint initiative between the 2 Universities or 2 separate initiatives

whether a market for the Universities’ proposed childcare provision exists and what might
constitute a favourable partnership option.
5.3 Indicative plan
5.3.1 Recruitment of the childcare consultant
It is proposed to run a tender exercise for the childcare consultant. There is no obvious source of such
resource because it is so specialised and so it is proposed to try to identify potential candidates by:
 Contacting childcare charities who may provide this service – the Family and Childcare Trust have
confirmed that they do
 Place an advertisement in Nursery World, a trade magazine, to attract solo consultants
 Advertise on Cornwall Council’s Family Information Service website
The selection process will consist of:
 Reviewing the tender documentation
 2 reference site telephone calls
 Presentation and Q&A.
The selection panel will be made up of members of the Project Steering Groups (see section 6 below for the
membership)
Indicative timescales for the selection process are:
 Week 1 Publish advert in Nursery World to get expressions of interest
 Week 2 Send out tender to those expressing an interest
 Week 4 Review tenders and hold reference calls
 Week 5 Presentation and Q&A.
6
5.3.2 Childcare review
The plan for the Childcare review is shown in the diagram below:
5 weeks
5 weeks
Define service
requirement
Assess the Options
2 weeks
Finalise
recommendations
Question to
be asked
• What service is required?
• What service is possible?
Assess how far each option would meet
the service requirement
What is the preferred option
How is it
answered?
• Assessment of the current demand
• Assessment of potential future demand
• Consideration of Athena Swan
requirements
• Benchmark services against other local
providers – range of services, cost
• Benchmark services against HEIs in the
Exeter comparator group
Assess the implications of each option in
terms of:
• Cost including availability of capital from
3rd parties or fundraising
• Timescales
• Reliance on other University staff to
support implementation eg EDS
• Impact on current nursery staff
• Guarantee of service quality
• Market appetite (outsourcing options
only)
Outcome of a review of the options
Activities
Focus groups in Falmouth/Penryn
Survey and focus groups in Exeter
Deliverables
A proposal for nature of childcare provision
that would meet the needs of the majority of
staff and students at both Universities and is
realistic in terms of its potential deliverability
• An assessment of the viability of each
option and a recommended option.
• Criteria for assessment are:
• Will it meet the requirements for
childcare provision for the majority of
staff/students
• Will it provide the same/better childcare
provision than currently provided
• Will it be self supporting financially
A preferred option and rationale for
its selection.
Governance checkpoint
5.4 Requirements of the review
5.4.1 Options to be investigated
The options for service provision to be investigated during the review are:

Build and operate

Build and outsource the operation

Outsource, build and operate

A partnership to jointly run parts/all of the service.
These options will be considered for Penryn/Falmouth, Exeter and Truro jointly and also separately.
5.4.2 Assumptions
The following assumptions need to be taken into account during the review:
 There will be some form of childcare provision provided by both Universities on the Exeter and Cornwall
campuses
 The nature of the childcare provision will support the requirements of the academic working day
 The existing Exeter facilities will be replaced. The existing facilities at Exeter and Woodlane will
continue to function during the creation of the new or replacement facilities so there will be no need for
any transitional arrangements to be put in place at either Exeter or Falmouth/Penryn
 The quality of childcare provision will be at least the same level as it currently is
 Provision must be flexible – able to flex up to meet potential increase in staff/students as both
universities grow
 The childcare provision will aim to be self-sufficient i.e. aim to be financially self sustaining but will not
necessarily be profit-making
 There will be single site solution for Exeter and the options will be considered in Cornwall
There are no time constraints to the delivery of the new childcare arrangements. Currently there are two
views on the timings for opening any new facilities and these need to be explored during the review:
7
 It is preferable that any new facilities are opened at the start of an academic term to try to avoid any dip
in financial performance
 Operationally preferable to open a new facility in summer when numbers are low and there is capacity
to deal with snagging issues that may arise.
5.4.3 Specific areas to explore during the review
The following areas need to be explored as part of the review
 Future scalability – how would any facility accommodate the current and future demand given a
predicted rise in the number of staff and students at both Exeter and Falmouth/Penryn?
 Price elasticity – what is the relative price elasticity of childcare provision? Are parents willing to pay
more for the benefit of easier logistics and likelihood of better continuity of nursery staff if the nursery is
run in house?
 What is the viable age for Holiday Club provision – should it be from 5-16 years?
 How do the nurseries remain commercially viable and satisfy current and future government funding
requirements?
 Benchmarking – how does the proposed childcare provision compare with that of University of Exeter’s
comparator group of Universities?4
5.5 Key risks and issues
The following are considered to be key risks to the review:
 Given the specialist nature of this review, a suitably qualified consultant cannot be procured
 Staff and parents are not engaged appropriately in the review and become alienated as a result
 A decision to outsource provokes industrial action from the University’s unions which impacts the
current nursery provision
 Exeter and Penryn/Falmouth do not co-ordinate communications and parents receive mixed or
confusing messages
 Lack of adequate communication with the local community creates a PR issue for FXPlus - 60% of the
parents using, and the majority on the waiting list of the Woodlane Day Nursery are neither students
nor staff
5.6 Dependencies
The table below outlines the dependencies for the review:
4
Related Project
How related?
Possible impact
Women in HE
It provides a strategic need for
University of Exeter to provide
adequate, suitable childcare provision
for academic staff. Falmouth
University is also in the process of
applying for research status.
If more funding bodies specifically require
accreditation as a condition of application,
the time to create new provisions will
become a significant factor in choosing the
recommended childcare provision option.
University of Exeter’s comparator group includes St Andrews, Durham, Warwick, York, Lancaster, Edinburgh, Bath, Bristol,
Loughborough, University College London
8
Review of the
teaching day (a
work stream within
the Future
Workplace project)
Any proposed childcare provision
needs to meet the needs of the
academic’s working day. The Review
of the teaching day is looking at the
potential for the Teaching Day to be
extended. Any decision to extend the
day would require the provision for
childcare to be correspondingly
extended.
The Review of the teaching day is not due
to be completed until August and so the
Childcare Review will not have a definitive
steer on childcare provision until then.
At this stage in the Childcare Review it is
deemed sufficient to recognise the
dependency and that, as decisions around
the Teaching Day become clearer, the
proposed childcare provisions must reflect
those decisions.
6 Governance
The Childcare Review will be project managed by Gill Preston from University of Exeter’s Change Team. She will:

support the independent consultant to conduct the review

work with the communications leads from University of Exeter and FXPlus to create a coordinated
communications plan

ensure that the project is appropriately governed.
The governance for this review will consist of a sponsor group and a separate Steering Group Exeter and
Penryn/Falmouth.
The Sponsor Group’s membership will consist of:
Role
Name
Acting Director, Campus Services, University of Exeter
Phil Attwell
CEO FXPlus
Niamh Lamond
Consultant
TBC
Project Manager
Gill Preston
Its role is to co-ordinate the activities between FXPlus and University of Exeter:
 Oversight of the joint contract
 Co-ordination of communications
 Manage any issues that relate to project alignment.
The Exeter Steering Group’s membership with consist of:
Role
Name
Acting Director, Campus Services - Chair
Phil Attwell
Consultant
TBC
Director Commercial Operations
Phil Rees-Jones
Family Centre Manager
Val Philips
9
Parent
Richard Brazier
Athena Swan representative
Ian Cook
Union representative
Emily Lygo
The FX Plus Steering Group’s membership with consist of:
Role
Name
Chair: CEO FXPlus / Head of Student Support Services
Niamh Lamond / Lucy Cox
Consultant
TBC
Family Centre Manager
Amanda Cooke
FXU Vice President Welfare
Frankie Boyd
HR Business Partner
Nicole Steinkruger
Widening Participation Officer
Hannah Partington
Parent/Athena Swan representatives
Andy Russell
Parent/FXPlus employee/GMB representative
Jennie Hosken
Cornwall Council Early Years Senior Improvement
Officer
Carol Kimberley
Truro Campus
Sahran Higgins
During Childcare Review, the Steering Group will meet at key points within the review as follows:
Key point
At the outset of the review
Determine service provision
Determine the service
delivery
Purpose of meeting
To agree Terms of Reference and the plan for conducting the review
To review the initial proposals around the nature of childcare provision to
be offered and agree what will be offered
To review the potential options for childcare provision and select a
recommended option
10