Agenda item

Further to Minute 72 (18 December 2013), the Cabinet Member for Education and Schools presented the latest report in respect of the progress of various school expansion projects aimed at addressing the demand for school places in the Borough, together with details of new capital allocations from the Department for Education (DfE), the proposed projects to which the resources would be allocated and a proposal to transfer the management of the community facilities at Castle Green to Jo Richardson Community School from April 2015 to increase capacity while, at the same time, protect the community facilities.

The Cabinet Member referred to the latest pupil projection figures up to 2020/21, as set out in section 2 of the report, and advised that she had commissioned a report from officers on the impact of new housing developments in the Borough and other demographic information, including the impact of reduced availability of school places in neighbouring boroughs, in order for her to be confident that the school place expansion plans were robust. 

The Government had allocated £14m of Basic Need Grant in 2014/15 but the provisional allocations of £2.4m and £2.5m for 2015/16 and 2016/17 were considered wholly inadequate to meet the Borough’s needs.  The Cabinet Member concurred with the view expressed by the Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Services that London Boroughs were disadvantaged by the Government’s approach to the allocation of Basic Need Grant.  In respect of the potential risk of the Government withdrawing or reducing capital funding in the future, the Cabinet Member for Education and Schools referred to the risk assessment set out in section 13 of the report and the Corporate Director of Children’s Services agreed to provide Cabinet Members with a more detailed assessment. 

The Corporate Director of Children’s Services advised that it was only possible to secure Government support to the new schools at Riverside and Goresbrook on the basis that they would be Free Schools.  The Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Services referred to the distinction between those Free Schools that were developed in close partnership with the Local Education Authority, as was the case for the Riverside and Goresbrook schools, and those managed independently. 

The Corporate Director of Children’s Services undertook to look into matters raised by the Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Services in respect of the recent planning application approved by the Council’s Development Control Board in respect of the Lymington Fields major housing development as well as traffic management issues in respect of the Riverside School when the site becomes used as a primary school. 

The Cabinet Member for Finance stressed the need to avoid slippage in the delivery of the capital projects and acknowledged the Corporate Director of Children’s Services’ response in respect of teaching staff levels going forward and the desire to increase the numbers in middle-leadership roles.

The Cabinet Member for Education and Schools advised that the overall Strategy would be subject to on-going review and development in the light of new issues and proposals, including those of the new Council leadership.

Cabinet resolved:

(i)  To approve the Strategy for Ensuring Sufficient School Places and School Modernisation and Future Planning Programme to meet Basic Need (including SEN places) 2013 to 2020 as set out at Appendices 1 and 2 to the report;

(ii)  To the inclusion of the following sums in the 2014/15 Capital Programme, as allocated by the DfE and attributable to the Local Authority, for the projects set out in section 4 of the report:

Universal Infant Free School Meals Capital Investment - £708,101

Basic Need Grant for School Places - £14,052,409

Devolved Formula Capital - £628,342

Maintenance/Modernisation 2014/15 - £3,557,629

(iii)  To approve the use of £9.3m of Targeted Basic Need Programme funding to be directed to the project to increase capacity at Sydney Russell School and extend the age range of the School to cover 3 to 19 years of age, the DfE having agreed to support this project in principle, as detailed in paragraphs 5.1 and 5.2 of the report;

(iv)  To approve a change in procurement route for the project at Robert Clack School, for the reasons set out in paragraph 5.3 of the report, in favour of the Government’s Crown Commercial Service Lot 7 Framework for Modularised Construction;

(v)  To approve a change in procurement route for the project at Barking Riverside, for the reasons set out in section 6 of the report, in favour of the Government’s Crown Commercial Service Lot 7 Framework for Modularised Construction, subject to securing appropriate land;

(vi)  To approve the proposed transfer of the management of the community facilities at Castle Green to Jo Richardson Community School from April 2015 on the terms detailed in section 7 of the report and to authorise the Corporate Director of Children’s Services, in consultation with the Chief Finance Officer, the Head of Legal and Democratic Services and the Cabinet Members for Finance and Education and Schools, to enter into all necessary agreements to facilitate the transfer;

(vii)  To approve the inclusion in the Capital Programme of the projects identified in section 8 of the report up to a value of £15m;

(viii)  To authorise the Chief Finance Officer to confirm to the DfE and Education Funding Agency the decision to support the increased classroom sizes as part of the projects at Eastbury Comprehensive School and Eastbrook Comprehensive School, subject to confirmation from the School Governing Bodies; and

(ix)  To authorise the Corporate Director of Children’s Services, in consultation with the Chief Finance Officer, the Head of Legal and Democratic Services and the Cabinet Member for Education and Schools, to award the respective project contracts set out in the report based on the checked and independently validated prices.