Issue - meetings

Report of the Portfolio Holder for Schools

The Board considered the Portfolio Holder for Schools’ report identifying how the School Condition Funding grant from the Department for Education (DfE) will be prioritised to meet the needs of schools maintained by the council, and seeking approval for procuring and managing the works effectively.

RESOLVED to

(1)  approve the allocation of the School Condition funding, totalling £1.554m to the schemes below, noting that £0.207m is set aside as a contingency fund:

(2)  amend the Capital Programme to include the additional £1.544m received as part of the grant;

(3)  delegate authority to the Corporate Director for Children and Adults to allocate contingency funding to projects such as health and safety or condition issues arising during 2016/17 and to adjust the funding allocation for each scheme once cost and survey information is received, subject to value for money being demonstrated and costs being within the overall budget allocated for this programme of works;

(4)  appoint NCC Design Services to design, procure and manage the schemes;

(5)  approve the procurement of the works through the East Midlands Property Alliance (EMPA) framework – an OJEU (Official Journal of the European Union) compliant framework;

(6)  delegate authority to the Head of Legal Services to sign contracts with the preferred contractors following procurement exercises to allow schemes to be delivered.

Reason for decision

The prioritisation of the funding is based on advice received from the council’s Design Services team and external specialist contractors. There are two areas where funding has been prioritised:

·  Health and safety issues likely to impact on children and staff;

·  Condition issues likely to impact on the operation of the school;

The balance of the funding for the School Condition grant has been identified as part of the prioritisation process and £0.207m will be held as a contingency amount to deal with urgent health and safety or condition issues that arise during the financial year 2016/17. Delegating authority to the Corporate Director for Children and Adults to approve these schemes will enable a swift response to urgent issues as they arise.

Other options considered

Consideration was given to combine the Condition funding and the Basic Need funding. If combined, this funding could be used to address the shortfall in school places across the city.

Consideration was also given to amalgamating the Condition grant with broader City Council capital funding.

Both of these options were rejected as they would leave schools at risk of closure through health and safety or condition issues. It would also mean that school buildings would continue to deteriorate, increasing the risk of forced closures for emergency repairs in the future.