Agenda Item 4
BOROUGH OF POOLE
CHILDREN’S SERVICES CAPITAL PROGRAMME BOARD
23 SEPTEMBER 2010
CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
28 SEPTEMBER 2010
CABINET
5 OCTOBER 2010
COUNCIL
26 OCTOBER 2010
REPORT OF THE STRATEGIC DIRECTOR
PRIMARY CAPITAL PROGRAMME - UPDATE
PART OF THE PUBLISHED FORWARD PLAN YES
STATUS: Strategic
1. PURPOSE
1.1 To present information on the progress being made in implementing the decisions the Council made on 12th May 2010 about the Primary Capital Programme and recommend decisions to the Cabinet.
2. RECOMMENDATIONS
2.1 Members are recommended:
(i) To note the progress made in delivering the revised Primary Capital Programme (PCP) in line with the decisions made by the Council as set out in the Appendix 1.
(ii) To note that, pending the conclusion of the government’s review of all capital spending in schools as presented in Section 5 of this report, future allocations of funding through the PCP have not yet been confirmed and that any funds currently allocated for the PCP and not spent by 31 August 2011 are likely to be clawed back.
(iii) To recommend to Cabinet and Council that funds of £3.326M are allocated for the scheme defined in Section 6 of this report to enable delivery of accommodation and facilities at Baden Powell and St Peter’s by 31 August 2011 in order to provide for additional pupil places, to protect the Council’s grant income received for years 1 and 2 of the programme (2009/10 and 2010/11) and to avoid claw back of funds by the government.
(iv) To request a further report to the Committee, Board, Cabinet and Council in January/February on the implications of the government’s review of capital spending in schools, options for schemes at Hillbourne and Longspee, and further information on the delivery of the approved schemes in the PCP. In order to progress the Hillbourne and Longspee projects beyond the feasibility stage, the Council will need confirmation of future years Grant funding before it can commit significant finance to these schemes.
(v) To note the evidence of increasing pupil numbers in the Hamworthy and Poole Town area which will result in a statutory requirement for an additional form of entry (30 places) in Year R in September 2012 as presented in Section 7 of this report and to request officers to develop plans to meet this need for consideration by Members in October/November and by Cabinet in December.
(vi) To request that Cabinet and Council note the forward plan and timetable for further consideration of the PCP as presented in Section 9 of this report.
3. BACKGROUND
3.1 At its meeting on 12th May 2010 the Council considered recommendations from the Children and Young People Overview & Scrutiny Committee about revisions to the Primary Capital Programme. Consequently the Council made twelve decisions.
3.2 On 15th July 2010 the Committee received an update report describing the progress being made in implementing the Council’s decisions.
4. UPDATE ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COUNCIL’S DECISIONS
4.1 All of the Council’s decisions are listed in the attached table in Appendix 1 along with information about the action being taken to implement each of the decisions. An overview of the update is provided here.
4.2 The early phases of work associated with the Council’s decisions have now been completed on time and within budget. This means the Council is on target to deliver the pupil places that are required in September 2011. This work has contributed to the Council achieving its target to spend £3M by 31 August 2010, and so the risk of grant being clawed back by the government has been minimised.
4.3 There has been a sharp focus on cost reduction and significant efficiencies have been achieved. However, in most cases it is too early to declare savings until we are through the process of procuring the main work packages that follow.
4.4 In summary, Sylvan First School now has four additional modular classrooms and Longfleet CE VC Combined School has two additional modular classrooms. Work at Lilliput CE VC First School is progressing well and the work during the holiday was completed on time and in budget. Preparatory alterations have been carried out at Sylvan, Longfleet and Talbot Combined School over the summer holidays. Detailed design work has progressed on Sylvan, Longfleet, Talbot, Baden Powell and St Peter’s CE VC Middle School and Heatherlands First School so that in some cases the Council are ready to proceed with contractor procurement. A new study to consider options for Hillbourne School and Nursery and Longspee School has been commissioned and is underway.
5. GOVERNMENT REVIEW OF CAPITAL SPENDING IN SCHOOLS
5.1 The purpose of the government’s review is:
(i) To review, in the context of the Government’s fiscal consolidation plans and emerging policy, the Department for Education’s (DfE) existing capital expenditure and make recommendations on the future delivery models for capital investment for 2011-12 onwards.
(ii) The overall aim of the review is to ensure that future capital investment represents good value for money and strongly supports the Government’s priorities.
5.2 The review will consider how all DfE capital expenditure within any spending constraint and PFI policy could be distributed more effectively over the next Spending Review period (2011-12 to 2014-15).
5.3 The review commenced in July 2010. It will report to Ministers in mid-September and a forward plan for capital investment over the next spending review period will be produced by the end of the calendar year.
5.4 Until such time as the review is complete there will be uncertainty about the outcomes and the implications for the Council and schools. Consequently it is suggested that the Council does not take decisions to allocate funding without confirmation until the outcomes of the review and future government funding allocations are known.
5.5 In the meantime the DfE has indicated by its actions that it is very keen to claw back funds from local authorities. In respect of the PCP, this means that it is very likely that funds currently allocated to the Council and that are not spent by 31 August 2011 will be clawed back. The Council’s current target for spending PCP grant by that date is £6.378M.
6. NEXT STEPS
Baden Powell & St Peter’s CE VC Middle School
6.1 In order to protect the Council’s financial position and to deliver the pupil places required in a timely manner, it is proposed to seek approval now to proceed with the Baden Powell and St Peter’s project. The reasons for this are explained in this section.
6.2 The investment plan approved by the Council in May was designed, at least in part, to mitigate the risk of the government clawing back any grant that is unspent by 31 August 2011. It was based on the assumption that appointed contractors will be on site at both Baden Powell and St Peter’s and Heatherlands, with significant expenditure being achieved on both schemes, by 31 August 2011. It now looks very unlikely that sufficient work will have been completed at Heatherlands by that time and therefore the risk of the government clawing back a large amount of grant has increased significantly. The reasons for this are related to the consultations required and are explained in paragraph 6.5. This means that the only way of the Council avoiding losing a large amount of grant through claw back is to start the Baden Powell and St Peter’s scheme as soon as possible.
6.3 Officers have produced a programme for Baden Powell & St Peter’s based on a construction method which will achieve completion in 2011 with sufficient expenditure by August to achieve the spend target. The programme indicates, however, that approval to proceed must be given before 8 November 2010 in order for these milestones to be achieved.
6.4 Costings associated with detailed design work carried out on Baden Powell & St Peter’s indicate that significant efficiencies have been achieved through the design process. Current standards indicate that the new classrooms should be 56m2 in size, whereas the existing classrooms at the school average 48m2 and so these classroom sizes have been matched in the new scheme. In addition, there is no proposed increase in the size of the shared resource areas for each year group. The school has agreed to these compromises, but argue that they could not manage the 120 additional pupils without increasing the provision of hall-space which they currently struggle with. The school currently has a single hall of 180m2 which doubles as the dining area at lunchtime. Current standards would require 360m2 of hall-space. The proposal is therefore to provide a new 180m2 hall, using modular construction to keep the cost down and reduce the build time to a minimum.
6.5 At this time there are indications that there will be savings against the budget for this project. The design team have maintained a sharp focus on reducing cost, working closely with the school to find creative solutions for accommodating the additional pupils. At this stage, however, the Board / Committee is asked recommend Cabinet and Council to approve the original budget of £3.326M for Baden Powell and St Peter’s because the normal risks still apply to this project; namely planning, tender and groundwork risks, against which we must maintain a contingency. If or when it becomes clear that some or all of the contingency is not required, this will be reviewed and it may then be possible to reallocate resources at that stage.
Heatherlands First School
6.6 Heatherlands First School sits on a large site, significant areas of which are under-used or not used at all. In this respect there is a good case for expanding the school. Access to the site is, however, very problematic and will present difficulties at planning that can only be overcome by careful design and full consultations with the local community. This will take time and must be done thoroughly to ensure the success of the project.
6.7 The current programme indicates that work on the scheme will be sufficiently advanced to enable the submission of a planning application in March 2011. However, proceeding on the basis of this timetable creates a significant risk that the target for spending the government grant (£2.7M) by 31 August 2011 will not be met.
6.8 Members are asked to note that at this stage the Council cannot take the Heatherlands project beyond Stage D (submission of a planning application) until it has received confirmation of Grant funding for years 3 and 4 of the programme (2011/12 and 2012.13) which is required to finance the build project.
6.9 Leaving aside the issue of clawback of funding, the additional pupil places provided at Year 4 at Heatherlands are not required until September 2013, one year later than at Baden-Powell and St Peter’s. Therefore, from that point of view, there is no need to press ahead with the scheme on the same timetable as Baden-Powell and St Peter’s.
Hillbourne School and Nursery and Longspee School
6.10 Consultants have been appointed to undertake a new study of options for Hillbourne School and Nursery and Longspee School in the light of the Council’s recommendations. The study is progressing well, in consultation with the school, and is on target to be assessed in November and reported to the Committee/ Board at its meeting in January 2011.
6.11 Consequently it is proposed that a further report is presented to the Committee/Board in January 2011 on the progress with the delivery of the approved schemes in the PCP and options for schemes at Hillbourne and Longspee and further information on the delivery of the approved schemes in the PCP. This will allow the Committee and Board to take account of the outcome of the government’s review of all capital spending in schools.
7. UPDATE ON PUPIL PROJECTIONS
7.1 The purposes of this section are:
(i) To inform members of the requirement to increase the capacity available in the Primary phase between 2012 and 2015 above that already included in the current development proposals and, in particular, to highlight the need to provide 30 additional places in 2012.
(ii) To outline the need to undertake an options appraisal and feasibility study to inform the development of proposals to meet the need for additional school places. The outcomes of this study will be reported to the Committee and the Programme Board in October/November and to Cabinet in December.
7.2 The background to this is that Primary phase pupil numbers in the Borough are rising. In view of this the Committee, and subsequently the Council, agreed earlier this year the following increase in capacity:
7.3 In Year R for September 2011:
School / Current PAN / Revised PAN / No of additional placesSylvan First School* / 90 / 150 / 60
Longfleet CE VC Combined School** / 60 / 90 / 30
St Aldhelm’s CE VA Combined School** / 60 / 90 / 30
Talbot Combined School / 60 / 90 / 30
TOTAL ADDITIONAL PLACES / 150
*Increase to 5 FE for a temporary period and reduce to 4 FE when circumstances allow. No date has been identified for when the school will reduce to 4 FE which will depend upon the longer term need for school places.
**Increases for a temporary period of three years i.e. 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14.
7.4 The increase in pupil numbers will start to feed through to the Middle schools from September 2012.
7.5 The expansion of Lilliput CE VC First School to 3 FE from September 2009 will mean that Baden-Powell and St Peter’s Middle School will need to expand from 5 FE (150 places) to 6 FE (180 places). This will add 1 FE (30 places) in Year 4.