The campaign to save Salford Council's five OFSTED rated 'outstanding' nurseries has taken another turn, as a bid to outsource them to another provider has failed.
In a statement to Salford City UNISON, which has backed the parent and staff campaign to keep the nurseries open under local authority control, Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennett, acknowledges that no suitable bids were received following a 47 day tender process to find a new provider.
"It is very disappointing that we could not award a contract but no suitable bids were received" states Dennett "However, we remain committed to keeping the local authority day nurseries open and will explore suitable options. This will mean the possibility of further discussions with education providers and a re-tender process.
"We will continue to work with closely with staff, trade unions and parents in what the future provision may look like and I'd like to thank them for their patience during this frustrating time" he adds.
At the beginning of this month, Dennett told campaigners that funding had been found to keep the nurseries open under local authority control only until April 2020 (see here).
"This is the first confirmation we have had since last February that the nurseries will be kept open without an end date" states UNISON's Steven North "While all Council services are under threat from continued Government-led austerity, this statement confirms that the nurseries are not specifically threatened in the way they have been for the last twelve months.
"It also offers some certainty, which will be accompanied by renewed attempts to recruit permanent staff and promote the nurseries to parents who may have been reluctant to enrol their children due to previous uncertainty" he adds "We will be setting up a campaign committee meeting with the City Mayor for the very near future and will continue to fight for the funding we need from Government...This is a very good day!"
For a full background see previous Salford Star articles - click here and click here
Main photo by Steven Speed
Update: 27th February 11:50am - Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennett announced at today's Council meeting that there could be "no cast iron guarantees" about nursery funding after 2019/20
Update 28th February: Tory Government Minister announces £24million of extra funding for nurseries - but nothing for Salford - click here
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