Purpose

Report income and previous allocation of funds
from the Department for Education for spend on school buildings.
Seek approval for further spend on programmes to improve the offer
of special education needs and alternative provision school places
within the schools estate in order to reduce the number of children
being placed in private sector schools out of the
borough.

Content

The Cabinet considered
a report of the Director of Children’s Services which sought approval for proposed
expenditure on various schemes in accordance with the
Council’s Financial Regulations.
The report
specifically covered income and expenditure from High Needs
Capital, Special Provision Capital funding for spending on Special
Educational Needs and Disabilities places in the schools estate,
and spend on Basic Need Capital.
 
The Transformation
Project Manager Sufficiency Early Help & Schools was in attendance to present the information and to
address the questions and the comments of the Cabinet Members.
 
Resolved:
1.   
That the capital allocations be noted as follows:

Department for Education Special Provision Fund Allocations
2018-21

£ 848,837

Department for Education High Needs Provision Capital Allocation
2021-25 £12,836,460;
2.   
That it be agreed that the expenditure on the following proposed
programmes, detailed within this report (Appendix A), for
invitations to tender to be issued and accepted and for the
supporting contracts, Private Finance Initiative deeds of variation
(where necessary) and any incidental and ancillary documentation,
to be signed in order to deliver the development schemes outlined
in the appendices, in accordance with Financial Regulations;
Special
Provision Capital Programme of £496,045 as in Appendix A;

High Needs Provision Capital Programme of £9,923,671 as
Appendix A;
Basic
Need Capital Programme of £12,756,000 as Appendix A;

3.   That the Director for
Children’s Services be authorised to invite and evaluate
tenders for the projects described in this report at paragraphs
3.11 to 3.20, and enter into the appropriate contracts and
incidental and ancillary documentation in consultation with the
relevant Portfolio Holder and Assistant Director Legal &
Governance, as per the Council’s Constitution;

4.   That any further decisions on
the new satellite schools be delegated
to the Director of Children’s Services, in consultation with
the relevant portfolio holder. These decisions would include
design, project delivery programme and approval of costings within
the envelope of funds specified in 2.1 above;
5.
  That the Council’s Section 151
officer be authorised to allocate and vire funding to Children’s Services to
support the programme when it is received.

 
Reason
for decisions:

Since 2017 Rochdale has seen a doubling
of the number of children and young people with Education, Health
and Care Plans (EHCP). The change in regulations in 2014,
increasing the age range up to 25 years, and the increase in the
population of young people has increased the underlying cohort
covered by the legislation by 43%. This is in line with the
national picture.

 
In
the school sector the numbers of EHPC children in mainstream
primary schools has more than doubled (up by 105%) since 2017. The
number in secondary mainstream has increased by 56% but the number
of EHCP children with a special school place has only increased by
32%. In the 16-19 age group there are
now 614 young people with EHCPs, which is an increase of 228% since
2017.

 
In
Rochdale the percentage of children with
EHCPs across all school settings is now over 5%, up from 3.3% in
2017. In 2017 1.6% of children in
primary school had an EHCP, it is now 3.2%. At secondary in
2017 it was 2.4% of the school
population and it is now also 3.2%.

 
Of
all the children in school settings with
EHCPs in Rochdale 42% have a diagnosis for autism and 13% have
social, emotional, or mental health difficulties (SEMH). In
Rochdale there has been a steady
increase in numbers of children identified with autism at a rate of
70 new EHCPs per year. For SEMH, prior to Covid the rate of
increase was only 5 new cases per year, but since Covid this has increased to 25 new cases per year.
Since 2017 the number of children being
placed in independent (private) settings has increased five-fold
(by 520%) and these are predominantly children with autism and
SEMH.
 
Alternatives
considered and rejected:
Since 2017 numbers of
children requiring specially adapted SEND provision has risen, and
through this period both special and mainstreams schools have
continued to adapt their provision to better meet need. In
2023 the Education Sufficiency Strategy
was launched to grow the number of specialist places in mainstream
schools. Some additional SEND places have been
created through that programme of works.
 
Children who require
additional specialist provision that the Council is unable to
provide, are placed in independent
sector schools and these numbers continue to rise. The alternative
to not supporting primary schools though the programmes detailed
here, and not providing additional SEND places in
secondary/tertiary and state run alternative provision, would be a
continuation of the current rise in independent sector costs,
transport costs, and the rising number of children travelling long
distances to provisions outside of the borough. It would also put
the Council in a position where it might not meet its statutory
duty to provide school places leaving us open to legal challenge
and costs.