Agenda item - Education Capital Resources and Capital Investment Programme 2018/2019

Report of the Executive Director for Families, Children & Learning (copy attached)

 

119.1  RESOLVED:

 

(i)            That the agreed allocation of funding as shown in Appendices 3 and 4to the report be approved for inclusion within the Council’s Capital Investment Programme 2018/19;

 

(ii)          That the Committee approved the funding necessary to enable all necessary building, adaptation and other associated works undertaken at Dorothy Stringer School to accommodate the “misplaced 38” children for September 2018;

 

(iii)         That an urgency meeting of the Children, Young People & Skills Committee be convened to consider the allocation the balance of the Government funded £15m in (ii) (above) on the remainder of the qualifying school estates;

 

(iv)         That Officers convene an urgent meeting of relevant parties required to agree the parameters for swift implementation of the works required to accommodate the ‘Misplaced 38.’ This meeting is likely to include the Head Teacher, the Chair of Governors, appropriate BHCC property officers among others;

 

(v)          That the Committee authorise the Executive Director, Families, Children & Learning to consider the conclusions of this urgent meeting in the expectation that facilities will be in place for September 2018;

 

(vi)         That the Assistant Director of Property & Design be granted delegated authority to procure the capital maintenance and basic needs works and enter into contracts with these budgets, as required, in accordance with Contract Standing Orders in respect of the entire Education Capital Programme.

 

119.1  The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director Families, Children & Learning on Education Capital Resources and Capital Investment Programme 2018/2019. The report informed the Committee of the level of available capital resources allocated to this service for 2018/19 and to recommend a Capital Investment Programme for 2018/19.

 

119.2  The Chair said that two amendments had been received, one from the Conservative Group and one from the Labour and Co-operative Group. The Chair noted that the Labour amendment had been received after the deadline, but would use his discretion to accept it.

 

119.3  The Chair asked that the Labour Group move their amendment. Councillor Mitchell moved the Labour Group amendment to the recommendations, which read:

           

Insert an additional recommendation after recommendation (1) as follows:

 

(2)That the Committee approves the funding necessary to enable all necessary building, adaptation and other associated works undertaken at Dorothy Stringer School to accommodate the “misplaced 38” children for September 2018 subject to the agreement of the Head Teacher and the Governing Body of the school.

 

(3) Authorise the Executive Director, Families, Children & Learning to take all steps necessary or incidental to the above.

 

The amended recommendations to read:

 

(1)  That the agreed allocation of funding as shown in Appendices 3 and 4be approved for inclusion within the council’s Capital Investment Programme 2018/19;

 

(2)  “That the Committee approves the funding necessary to enable all necessary building, adaptation and other associated works to be undertaken at or Dorothy Stringer School to accommodate the “misplaced 38” children for September 2018 subject to the agreement of the Head Teacher and the Governing Body of the school

 

(3)  That the Executive Director, Families, Children & Learning be authorised to take all steps necessary or incidental to the above.

 

(4)  That the Assistant Director of Property & Design be granted delegated authority to procure the capital maintenance and basic needs works and enter into contracts with these budgets, as required, in accordance with Contract Standing Orders in respect of the entire Education Capital Programme.

Councillor Mitchell noted that both amendments were trying to achieve the same thing. The Labour Group had only had sight of the Conservative Group amendment on the morning of the meeting, and were concerned that the proposals would delay the process of accommodating the ‘misplaced 38’ children at Dorothy Stringer. The Group had therefore put forward an amendment which instructed officers to progress the work which would be needed to accommodate the additional children, with the agreement of the head teacher and governing body. Councillor Yates seconded the motion and reserved his right to speak.

 

119.4  The Chair asked that the Conservative Group move their amendment and the Committee would then discuss all the proposals.

 

119.5  Councillor Janio moved the Conservative Group amendment to the recommendations, which read:

 

To add additional recommendations 2 and 3 as shown in bold below.

 

1.     That the agreed allocation of funding as shown in Appendices 3 and 4be approved for inclusion within the council’s Capital Investment Programme 2018/19;

          2.    That Committee requests an urgent report be submitted to Children, Young People & Skills Committee to provide the necessary funds from the  Government’s £15m “additional secondary provision” for Dorothy Stringer & Varndean Schools to immediately accommodate the “misplaced 38” children for September 2018;

 

3.     That Committee requests an urgent report be submitted to Children, Young People & Skills Committee to allocate the balance of the Government funded £15m in 2 (above) on the remainder of the qualifying school estates; and

 

4.     That the Assistant Director of Property & Design be granted delegated authority to procure the capital maintenance and basic needs works and enter into contracts with these budgets, as required, in accordance with Contract Standing Orders in respect of the entire Education Capital Programme.

Councillor Janio said that the Leader of the Council had said that there was £15m, which had been allocated to building the new secondary school that was no longer needed, which would now be spent on other schools on the city. Councillor Janio said that that money should be used to increase the capacity at Dorothy Stringer Secondary School to enable the 38 children who were not allocated a place at their catchment school to attend. Councillor Bell seconded the motion and reserved his right to speak.

 

119.6  Councillor Sykes referred to the substantive report and was concerned in particular with the information in Appendix 3, which he felt was rather confusing and provided in a slap dash manner. He was concerned that when it was decided not to proceed with the new secondary school, that the administration had not made provision to prevent children having to travel across the city to attend school, and had now at the last minute put forward proposals to address the situation. He said he was minded to support the Conservative amendment, but it was also important to get funding approved as soon as possible. He said that temporary accommodation could be put in place within three months, and would not need planning permission.

 

119.7  Councillor Peltzer Dunn referred to the Labour Group amendment and asked if it was known when the governors at Dorothy Stringer School had last met. The Executive Director Families Children & Learning said he didn’t know, but a member of the public said that they had met in December 2017, and March 2018. Councillor Peltzer Dunn said that he understood that at the December meeting, the governors had said they could accommodate 30 additional children in two mobile classrooms, but the amended recommendations now related to an additional 38 children. The Executive Director Families, Children & Learning said that Varndean had agreed to take an additional 30 children in September 2018, and would not require additional investment then, but would need it from 2019 and discussions were being held with the school.  Dorothy Stringer had not said that they could take additional children in 2018, but could form September 2019. The Chair said that he understood that the school’s view had changed and they could now take an extra 30 pupils from September 2018, and the Council would do what it could to enable that to happen.

 

119.8  Councillor Bell said that the Labour administration should not have put the parents of the ‘misplaced 38’ through the stress of not being allocated a catchment school, and the matter should have been dealt with before this meeting.  

 

119.9  Councillor Yates said that the Authority could not tell schools what to do, and noted that the Conservative Group were instructing the school governors to take extra pupils. He referred to the Conservative Group amendment and said that there would be delay in taking a report to the Children Young People & Skills (CYPS) Committee and then to the Policy Resources & Growth (PR&G) Committee, so there would be no possible resolution until July 2018.

 

119.10 Councillor Mac Cafferty said that the Administration had failed to provide certainty for parents, and the city had a school catchment area which didn’t provide places for everyone in that area and the matter needed to be resolved now.

 

119.11 Councillor Janio suggested that the Labour Group amendment was proposed only to cause trouble. He said that the Conservative Group amendment asked for a report to go to the CYPS Committee so they could decide how to spend the £15m.

 

119.12 Councillor Mitchell said that the Labour Group amendment had been written in response to the Conservative Group one, and had been designed to speed up the process as the provision of additional places at Dorothy Stringer needed to be done now rather than wait until July.

 

119.13 The Chair noted that the next CYPS Committee was due to be held on 18 June 2018, and the next PR&G Committee after that was 12 July 2018. Therefore there would be no resolution until seven weeks before the start of the new school year. The school had said that it could take extra children and everyone wanted to work to do the best for the children.

 

119.14 Councillor Bell said that the Labour Administration had not listened to the parents of the ‘38’ before, and had only submitted an amendment in response to the Conservative Group one.

 

119.16 The Chair suggested that there be a short adjournment for the three parties to discuss the possibility of proposing a joint amendment to the recommendations of the report. The Committee agreed.

 

119.17 Following a discussion between the three parties the following amendment was proposed by Councillor Janio and seconded by Councillor Mitchell and Councillor Sykes:

 

                        RECOMMENDATIONS:

 

1. That the agreed allocation of funding as shown in Appendices 3 and 4be approved for inclusion within the council’s Capital Investment Programme 2018/19;

 

2.            That the Committee approves the funding necessary to enable all necessary building, adaptation and other associated works undertaken at Dorothy Stringer School to accommodate the “misplaced 38” children for September 2018

 

3.         That an urgency meeting of the Children, Young People & Skills Committee be convened to consider the allocation the balance of the Government funded £15m in 2 (above) on the remainder of the qualifying school estates;

 

4.            That Officers Convene an urgent meeting of relevant parties required to agree the parameters for swift implementation of the works required to accommodate the ‘Misplaced 38.’ This meeting is likely to include the Head Teacher, the Chair of Governors, appropriate BHCC property officers among others;

 

5.            Authorise the Executive Director, Families, Children & Learning to consider the conclusions of this urgent meeting in the expectation that facilities will be in place for September 2018; and

 

 

6.            That the Assistant Director of Property & Design be granted delegated authority to procure the capital maintenance and basic needs works and enter into contracts with these budgets, as required, in accordance with Contract Standing Orders in respect of the entire Education Capital Programme.

 

119.18 The Chair said that he would take a vote on the proposed amendment without further discussion. The amendment was agreed.

 

119.19            RESOLVED: That the Committee agreed:

 

(i)            That the agreed allocation of funding as shown in Appendices 3 and 4to the report be approved for inclusion within the Council’s Capital Investment Programme 2018/19;

 

(ii)          That the Committee approved the funding necessary to enable all necessary building, adaptation and other associated works undertaken at Dorothy Stringer School to accommodate the “misplaced 38” children for September 2018;

 

(iii)         That an urgency meeting of the Children, Young People & Skills Committee be convened to consider the allocation the balance of the Government funded £15m in (ii) (above) on the remainder of the qualifying school estates;

 

(iv)         That Officers convene an urgent meeting of relevant parties required to agree the parameters for swift implementation of the works required to accommodate the ‘Misplaced 38.’ This meeting is likely to include the Head Teacher, the Chair of Governors, appropriate BHCC property officers among others;

 

(v)          That the Committee authorise the Executive Director, Families, Children & Learning to consider the conclusions of this urgent meeting in the expectation that facilities will be in place for September 2018;

 

(vi)         That the Assistant Director of Property & Design be granted delegated authority to procure the capital maintenance and basic needs works and enter into contracts with these budgets, as required, in accordance with Contract Standing Orders in respect of the entire Education Capital Programme.