Issue - meetings

The Corporate Director of Children, Education & Communities to present a report which informs Executive of the funding available in the school maintenance programme for the financial year 2019/20 and seeks approval for the proposed programme and specific schemes.

Resolved:  (i)      That the resources available in the Children, Education & Communities (CEC) capital programme for maintenance and building work at schools, and for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) expansion, be noted.

                   (ii)      That the two specific Maintenance schemes, at a budgeted individual cost of £250k and £300k respectively, be approved.

                   (iii)     That the Applefields SEND scheme, at a budgeted cost of £270k, be approved.

                   (iv)    That the Maintenance schemes to be developed from the estimated available resource within the 2019/20 capital programme be approved, subject to final affordability once overall funding and detailed cost estimates are available.

                   (v)     That approval of expenditure on individual schemes be delegated to appropriate Officers.

Reasons:   (i)      To maximise the programme of maintenance within the maintained school estate, dealing with the most urgent issues for 2019/20.

                   (ii)      To enable work to be carried out at Applefields School as part of the Inclusion Review, to better provide for the education of its pupils in the forthcoming school years.

The Head of School Services presented a report which provided information on the funding available in the school maintenance programme for the financial year 2019/20 and sought approval for the proposed programme and specific schemes.

Details of the 25 schemes recommended for approval were provided in Annex A to the report, listed under building work and mechanical and electrical work.  The estimated total cost was £3.276m. Since only 11 of these high priority schemes could be funded from the available Department for Education (DfE) maintenance grant of £1.470m, additional funding had been allocated through the council’s CRAM process.  The schemes at Dringhouses Primary and Westfield Primary had budgets of £250k and £300k respectively, as outlined in paragraphs 17 and 18. 

The main scheme for the Expansion and Improvement of Facilities for Pupils with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) had a budget of £647k for 2019/20.  It was proposed to allocate £270k of this to a scheme at Applefields School to address the current lack of suitable teaching and support spaces, as outlined in paragraphs 21 and 22.

The Executive Member for Children, Education and Young People spoke in support of the recommendations and highlighted the importance of the schemes.

In response to Member questions the Head of School Services stated that:

·        this was the start of a programme which would include SEN provision in mainstream schools; and

·        works at Applefields School could be coordinated with the those being undertaken at Burnholme to minimise disruption in the area.

Resolved:  (i)      That the resources available in the Children, Education & Communities (CEC) capital programme for maintenance and building work at schools, and for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) expansion, be noted.

                   (ii)      That the two specific Maintenance schemes, at a budgeted individual cost of £250k and £300k respectively, be approved.

                   (iii)     That the Applefields SEND scheme, at a budgeted cost of £270k, be approved.

                   (iv)    That the Maintenance schemes to be developed from the estimated available resource within the 2019/20 capital programme be approved, subject to final affordability once overall funding and detailed cost estimates are available.

                   (v)     That approval of expenditure on individual schemes be delegated to appropriate Officers.

Reasons:   (i)      To maximise the programme of maintenance within the maintained school estate, dealing with the most urgent issues for 2019/20.

                   (ii)      To enable work to be carried out at Applefields School as part of the Inclusion Review, to better provide for the education of its pupils in the forthcoming school years.