Halifax MP celebrates extra school-based nursery places
Plus, Calderdale Council's relationship with Piece Hall comes under scrutiny...
Hello and welcome to The Calderdale Lead.
I hope you’ve had a good weekend.
Me and the rest of The Lead North team have been celebrating this week after we were named as best specialist/regional newsletter of the year in the prestigious Press Gazette Future of Media Awards.
You can read more about the win by clicking below.
In today’s issue, we look at how a primary school in Halifax is helping parents with early-years education thanks to the opening of a new school-based nursery.
Plus, my colleague John Greenwood has a report from Calderdale Council’s scrutiny committee which is calling for members of the Piece Hall Trust to explain some of the points in its latest accounts.
So, on with the news…
Halifax school opens new nursery to help hard hit families
By Andrew Greaves
Halifax MP Kate Dearden has hailed the impact of Labour’s move to open more school-based nursery places.
Visiting Ash Green Community Primary School's new school-based nursery, Ms Dearden said the investment by the Government was vital to give children the best start on their educational journey.
Ash Green is one of 300 new or expanded nurseries directly on primary school grounds.
And Ms Dearden said: “I know from speaking with families across Halifax, that the lack of places and astronomical costs of childcare can put pressure on household finances.
"Alongside Labour’s offer of 30 government-funded hours of childcare, this nursery is already beginning to make a massive difference to local parents – saving them £7,500 a year and making sure all children are given the best start.”
Meeting the latest milestone in its Plan for Change, Labour has confirmed over 4,000 extra school-based nursery places will be available across England this September, including at Ash Green Community Primary School, as it vows to tackle childcare cold spots in the next phase of the rollout.
After lobbying the Government on behalf of parents and children in Halifax, calling for more spaces and increased support in early years education locally, Kate was delighted to speak to parents and teachers about the difference this new school-based nursery will make to families' lives.
Contributing to the vibrant childcare market with a range of options that suit all family’s needs, school-based nurseries offer children the opportunity to grow up and learn in a consistent environment all the way up to age 11, so they can continue to thrive in an environment they trust.
Mungo Sheppard, Headteacher at Ash Green Community Primary School said: “It is essential that all children get the best start in their life supported by education and if we are able to bring forward the start of children’s educational journeys here then it’s wonderful for the children, families and our staff as we are able to ensure the children are happy and ready to learn from such a young age.
“There has been a huge amount of work taken place over summer from staff and contractors to ensure that we were able to develop outstanding provision for this new cohort but all well worth it when we visited the children this week and welcomed them through the door this morning for their first taste of life in school!”
Scrutiny councillors want Piece Hall Trust to explain accounts
By John Greenwood
Scrutiny councillors will consider their Calderdale Council’s ongoing relationship with Yorkshire landmark Halifax’s Piece Hall, which includes some financial support.
Some members of Calderdale Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee want members of the Piece Hall Trust to attend a meeting to provide more detail about some of the items in the trust’s latest published accounts.
In the summer the issues were raised at a meeting of the full council through questions in light of the Trust’s announcing a £700,000 loss in its latest accounts, which cover the 18 months to September 30, 2024.
The Trust leases the Grade I listed popular tourist and business attraction, reopened after extensive multi-million pound refurbishment in 2017, from the council, which has provided some funding each year to support the Trust.
Councillors heard in July a £2.9 million loan given by the council was also outstanding.
With the council’s current support agreement with the Trust ending and a new one to be considered, Overview and Scrutiny Committee councillors agreed to review the relationship before Christmas.
Cllr Dan Sutherland said the council has “a very significant financial liability and risk to the Council Taxpayer” over “one of the most significant and fantastic assets in Halifax.”
But he was concerned about some aspects of the accounts, including a £500,00 figure given for governance, and these needed dealing with in a public sphere, sooner rather than later bearing in mind decision-making and budget timelines – councillors will set the 2026-27 budget in February – he said.
“I think you can also tell from the accounts that there is an expectation from the Piece Hall Trust that the taxpayer will bail them out again.
“I’m very concerned that there’s a risk there will be pressure for the council to agree those sums of money before that public transparent scrutiny can take place,” said Cllr Sutherland.
He urged to committee to invite representatives from the Piece Hall Trust to the meeting and “have an open book discussion about these accounts.”
But council Cabinet member for Resources, Cllr Silvia Dacre (Lab, Todmorden) and committee Chair Cllr George Robinson cautioned what the committee could or could not do was limited and the scope of a future item had to be considered carefully.
Cllr Dacre said: “There are issues to consider in relation to consider in relation to a committee of this council attempting to interrogate people from an independent charity whose accounts have been audited anyway and have to be submitted to the Charity Commission.”
Cllr Robinson said: “We can’t exactly scrutinise accounts line by line, we are not here to do that, but we certainly can scrutinise a relationship and how it is determined that an investment is made and how the success of that investment is measured.”
Chief financial officer Becky McIntyre and Cllr Dacre said the issue would also be scrutinised through the budget process and the Trust’s business plan would be considered as part of any request for future funding.
As an executive decision, it could be made by Cabinet but that would still be subject to the council’s final budget plan and as well as the budget decision going to full council, the consultation for that was also open to the public to comment, they said.
Cllr Dacre said just because the Trust had indicated in their report they wanted further financial help, that did not mean they would necessarily get it.
Cllr Peter Hunt said there was interest in the issue because, he recalled, it was understood the council would provide some supportive monies for the early years after re-opening, but this was past that.
“The optics are that they’re throwing huge A-lister massive concerts – that doesn’t necessarily mean they are getting loads of money but the perception will be ‘how is it not self-funding’?” he said.
Cllr Sutherland said he wanted to see the accounts “in detail”, for example what was in the £500,000 governance spend, in order to “give us assurance about how they have spent money in the past before we consider business cases and proposals for spending in the future.”
If officers or Cabinet members did not have an answer to that inquiry, “we should be going to the source direct,” he told committee councillors, which meant inviting Trust representatives to give that detail.
Councillors including Cllr Sutherland agreed the Piece Hall funding issue will be considered by a scrutiny committee in December.
Scope for the review will be agreed and the committee will also seek advice on what it can and cannot do, said Cllr Robinson.
“I heavily caveat that by saying we cannot mandate people to come to this committee – we can invite them.
“We’re not auditors but we can certainly review relationships,” he said.
In the annual report, the Piece Hall Trust’s chairman Orphy Robinson said the organisation is “moving in the right direction.”
Mr Robinson said like many other establishments and venues dependent on hospitality and events, The Piece Hall has faced significant financial challenges, including people’s spending hampered by the cost of living crisis.
In the past, Mr Robinson’s predecessor Sir Roger Marsh said that remaining free to enter the Piece Hall would need some subsidy from a grant source.
The Piece Hall Trust’s 2022-23 annual report noted it costs around £13,000 a day to run at that point.
But the Piece Hall’s role in boosting tourism to Calderdale was reflected in economic benefits for the borough to the tune of adding more than £7 to the local economy for every £1 spent on the landmark, said that report.
“This is very visible when speaking to local businesses such as Holdsworth House who cite The Piece Hall as the major driver of their significant uptick in bookings,” said the Trust’s 2022-23 report.
That’s it for this edition of The Calderdale Lead.
Don’t forget that if you want to get in touch with any tips, comments or observations you can do so by emailing calderdale@thelead.uk.
I’ll be back in your inbox on Wednesday so, until then, thanks for reading!
Andrew