Purpose

The report seeks approval for proposed
expenditure on various schemes in accordance with the
Council’s Financial Regulations. These regulations provide
that Cabinet approval should be obtained before new expenditure can
be incurred. This report requests approval and tender acceptance,
where necessary, for the outlined and reserve schemes proposed,
contingency and other specified budgets.

Content

The Cabinet considered
a report of the Director of Children’s Services, which sought
approval to accept the Department of Education grant funding
received from Basic Need and School Condition Allocation funding to
support the needs of provision for school places and the works to
address condition needs of school buildings and estates.
 
The Academy Schools
Conversion & Capital Projects Manager was
in attendance to present the information and to address the
questions and the comments of the Cabinet Members.
 
Resolved:

1.   
That the future capital allocations be noted and that the
Department for Education (DfE) grants
be accepted as follows:

          
DfE School Condition
Allocations                                
£1,800,000
          
(indicative figure for receipt in year 2025/26)
           
Additional DfE School Condition
Allocation                 
£664,723
          
received in 2024/25

          
Devolved Formula Capital (DFC)                                 
£400,000
          
(indicative figure for receipt in 2025/26)
          
Basic Need Allocations                                                
£18,511,036
          
(DfE confirmed figure for 2025/26)

2.   
That the expenditure on the proposed programmes detailed within the
report as outlined at Appendices A & B be approved;
3.   
That the Director of Children’s Services be given delegated
authority to go out to tender and accept contracts for the schemes
as detailed in appendices A and B of the report, with the
delegation to amend PFI deeds of variation (where necessary) and
any incidental and ancillary documentation;
4.   
That the Director for Children’s Services be given delegated
authority to invite and evaluate tenders for the projects described
in this report and to award the contracts for the projects (subject
to approval of all necessary statutory proposals) following
consultation with the Portfolio Holder and Assistant Director Legal
& Governance and the Council’s Constitution;
5.   
That the Director of Children’s Services be given delegated authority to allocate and
vire funding between projects within
the programme to support needs within the financial envelope of the
funding allocations and report these to
Cabinet through the Quarterly Financial Update.

 
Reason for decision:
The Authority has
received confirmation from the DfE of a
Basic Need allocation of £18,511,036 for 2025/26. Demand on,
and proposals relating to school places were
reported to Cabinet on 21st January 2025 (special schools),
this would be followed by further reports as need was identified.
Repairs to the LA maintained school estate have considered all
commitments and urgent demands before making recommendations to
address the most significant issues, in conjunction with continued
DFC allocations to schools.
As
well as on-going support for the current phases of capital works
already committed, the service were proposing a new programme of
works to address major condition needs based on Asset Management
information, recently commissioned and prioritised full building
condition survey information and priority place planning demands in
order to ensure that we satisfy the LA’s statutory
obligations for the provision of school places and continued
education. Full recommendations for inclusion in this
year’s capital programme were outlined in Appendix A,
including costs estimated by the Council’s Property Services
Team.
It was proposed that the Buildings Maintenance revenue
budget would be used, as in previous years, to support programme
development costs, emergency/unplanned repairs and ongoing
obligations related to the inspection of the schools building
stock.
 
Alternatives
considered and rejected:
Proposals were put forward in line with priorities and
commitments approved in previous Cabinet reports. Major priorities
for the forthcoming year are additional pupil place planning and a
school building condition works programme to address the highest
priority issues.