Agenda item

Further to Minute 4 (2 June 2015), the Cabinet Member for Education and Schools presented an update report in respect of the various nursery and school expansion projects aimed at addressing the demand for places in the Borough.

The Cabinet Member referred to the increasing costs associated with school expansion and new build projects and the limited scope to meet the future demand for new school places through expansion on existing school sites.  To that end, a campaign to make the Government and other influential bodies more aware of the acute difficulties faced in Barking and Dagenham was being undertaken, which included the lobbying of the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools, Lord Nash. 

Members noted details of the various expansion and improvement projects proposed within the report as well as the proposed funding and procurement arrangements.  In response to a question from the Leader, the Cabinet Member for Education and Schools confirmed that all schools in the Borough were signed up to a Memorandum of Understanding which established a collective responsibility for meeting the demand for school places.  The Cabinet Member also referred to the Government’s policy which sought to exclude local authorities from new school provision and the role that the Borough’s Partnership Learning Trust may be able to play in maintaining links and ensuring the future provision of quality education throughout the family of schools. 

Members spoke in support of the steps being taken by the Council and commended the work within the schools to maintain and improve children’s educational standards against the backdrop of increasing demand for places and the distractions caused by the various expansion projects taking place across the Borough.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Approve the Future Planning Programme to meet Basic Need (including SEN places) 2015 to 2021, as set out in section 2 and Appendix A of the report;

(ii)  Approve the inclusion of £1m in the Capital Programme to support the provision of nursery places for two year olds in accordance with the Department for Education (DfE) approval, as detailed in section 3 of the report;

(iii)  Approve the inclusion in the Capital Programme of £2,457,290 capital grant from the Education Funding Agency (EFA) for works at Eastbury Community School as part of the Priority Schools Building Programme which shall be procured through the PFI contractor, as set out in section 5 of the report, and note that discussions between the School and the PFI contractor may lead to further works of up to £1.5m;

(iv)  Approve an additional allocation of £400,000 from the Basic Need allocation to support the redevelopment of Eastbrook School through the Priority Schools Building Programme, as set out in sections 6 and 10.2 of the report;

(v)  Approve the inclusion in the Capital Programme of £45,195,736 capital grant from the EFA for the development of the Riverside Free Schools, as set out in section 7 of the report;

(vi)  Agree to support the procurement of the new Greatfields School, subject to the EFA settling all allocations and agreeing a funding agreement, as set out in section 8 of the report, and note that the Council’s Local Education Partnership (LEP) and internal expertise shall be utilised on the project;

(vii)  Approve the allocation of £8m from the Basic Need allocation to support the development of a new primary school in central Barking, as set out in sections 9 and 10.2 of the report;

(viii)  Agree the procurement principles as set out in section 15.2 of the report and note that all projects over £100,000 would be subject to the approval of the Council’s Procurement Board in respect of the procurement route to be followed; and

(ix)  Delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Children’s Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Education and Schools, the Strategic Director of Finance and Investment and the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, to award the respective project contracts.