Issue - items at meetings - Education Basic Need - Allocation £15million previously earmarked for purchase of a site for a new Free School

RESOLVED – That the Urgency Sub-Committee agree:

1)            That Urgency Sub-Committee agree the necessary building, adaptation and other associated works Dorothy Stringer School following the amendment agreed at PR&G committee on 29 March 2018.

2)            That Urgency Sub-Committee agree the indicative allocation of the balance of the Government funded £15million on the remainder of the school estate as shown in Paragraphs 3.8 to 3.16 and in addition consider the needs of all other schools in the City and recommend this to a subsequent PR&G Committee for inclusion within the Council’s Capital Investment Programme 2018/19.

3)            That Urgency Sub-Committee agree the allocation of the final School Condition Allocation and the Healthy Pupil Capital Allocation as detailed in Paragraphs 3.17 to 3.22 and recommend this to PR&G Committee inclusion within the Council’s Capital Investment Programme 2018/19.

4)            That Urgency Sub-Committee agree to recommend to PR&G Committee that they grant delegated authority to the Assistant Director of Property & Design to procure the works and enter into contracts within these budgets, as required, in accordance with Contract Standing Orders in respect of the entire Educational Capital Programme.

4.1       Natasha Watson, Managing Principle, outlined the basis for the convening this urgency sub-committee. She noted that the sub-committee is being requested to resolve recommendations 2.1 to 2.4 to Policy Resources and Growth Committee in June.

4.2       Richard Barker, Head of School Organisation gave a brief overview of the report brought before the sub-committee and stated the following:

·         The timing of the recommendations did not allow significant discussion of the City’s secondary schools

·         Concerns had been raised by Cardinal Newman Catholic School, the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton and 5 of the City’s Chairs of Governors in relation to the lack of clarity and the inequality of the circumstances that resulted in the recommendations

·         The funding would not be for maintenance work or for funding previous expansions rather it was to ensure additional places in future and that as BHCC would not be receiving an additional grant until 2020, a long term view must be taken to finalise any considerations

·         Consideration had been given to which schools would be provided with additional places, which areas are expected to meet rising demand and which schools were operating near their capacity limit

·         A Schools may wish to challenge the assumptions generated by the aforementioned considerations but the method must be used to provide an assessment

·         The current building stock had not been considered however BHCC would seek to achieve best value from any provision of capital funding

·         This report ultimately provided and indicative allocation basic needs of capital funding and works to accommodate the misplaced 38 and of the remainder of the qualifying school estate.

4.2       Councillor Vanessa Brown stated that the report did not have enough detail and that BHCC could not provide funding without knowing if there would be a sufficient number of places. She noted that not all schools had been considered fully and emphasised the necessity considering every school before making any decisions.

4.3       Councillor Alex Phillips agreed and supported Councillor Brown’s statement.

4.4       Councillor Dan Chapman, Chair, noted that this report had been produced in a short amount and agreed that further detail and consideration of all schools in the City was paramount. He recommended an amendment to recommendation 2.2 to read, “The Committee agree the indicative allocation of the balance of the Government funded £15million on the remainder of the school estate as shown in Paragraphs 3.8 to 3.16 and in addition consider the needs of all other schools in the City and recommend this to the PR&G Committee for inclusion within the council’s Capital Investment Programme 2018/19.”

4.5       Councillor Vanessa Brown agreed with the amendment on the grounds that enough time is given to prepare a more thorough report.

4.6       Pinaki Ghoshal, Executive Director Families Children & Learning, stated the following:

·         In relation to capital moneys, there was a recommendation that emphasised the urgent need to resolve expansions for the Summer

·         It was suggested that the report be brought to a subsequent PR&G Committee to ensure that the report be comprehensive

4.7       The Chair confirmed the amended recommendation to read, “That Committee agree the indicative allocation of the balance of the Government funded £15million on the remainder of the school estate as shown in Paragraphs 3.8 to 3.16 and in addition consider the needs of all other schools in the City and recommend this to a subsequent PR&G Committee for inclusion within the council’s Capital Investment Programme 2018/19.”

4.8       Natasha Watson confirmed that based on the wording of the amended recommendation; one would anticipate an additional consideration to all other schools in the City and a more thorough report would be brought to a subsequent PR&G Committee.

4.9         RESOLVED – That the Committee agreed:

(2.1)          That Committee agree the necessary building, adaptation and other associated works Dorothy Stringer School following the amendment agreed at PR&G committee on 29 March 2018.

(2.2)             That Committee agree the indicative allocation of the balance of the Government funded £15million on the remainder of the school estate as shown in Paragraphs 3.8 to 3.16 and in addition consider the needs of all other schools in the City and recommend this to a subsequent PR&G Committee for inclusion within the Council’s Capital Investment Programme 2018/19.

(2.3)             That Committee agree the allocation of the final School Condition Allocation and the Healthy Pupil Capital Allocation as detailed in Paragraphs 3.17 to 3.22 and recommend this to PR&G Committee inclusion within the Council’s Capital Investment Programme 2018/19.

(2.4)            That Committee agree to recommend to PR&G Committee that they grant delegated authority to the Assistant Director of Property & Design to procure the works and enter into contracts within these budgets, as required, in accordance with Contract Standing Orders in respect of the entire Educational Capital Programme.