Purpose

Report sufficiency in Secondary School places
and plan for capacity issues in order to meet the council's
statutory duty to be able to offer a school places to every child
in the borough.

Content

The Cabinet considered
a report of the Director of Children’s Services, which sought
to inform of the annual review of secondary school places across
the borough, evaluating the sufficiency of available places and
providing forecasts for the next six years.
The report also sought
approval of the necessary expenditures for managing the school
estate to ensure the council fulfils its statutory obligation to
provide a school place for every child residing in the borough.
 
The Transformation
Project Manager Sufficiency was in
attendance to present the information and to address the
questions and the comments of the Cabinet Members.
 
Cabinet Members noted
that the Department for Education (DfE)
Littleborough Secondary School project
was currently “paused”,
pending the government’s national spending review. The
DfE advised an update on this
would be anticipated in “Late
Spring” 2025.
 
Resolved:

That the updated
forecasts borough-wide for both the Heywood / Middleton area and
the Pennines / Rochdale area be noted;
That the timeline for
the decision by the Department for Education for the potential new
Littleborough Secondary school of
“late spring” 2025 be noted;
That the Basic Need
funding as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report for the Pennines /
Rochdale area for the 2026 intake where additional places may be
needed be approved.

 
Reason for
decision:
The council had a
statutory duty to provide education and school places for all
school-aged children residing in the borough and was consequently
responsible for ensuring effective planning to accommodate
projected pupil numbers.
In accordance with
Section 14(1) of the Education Act 1996, the Local Authority had a
duty to ensure sufficient school places are available and acts as
the strategic commissioner for the provision of new school places
within its area.
A local authority
shall exercise its functions under this legislation to contribute
to the spiritual, moral, mental, and physical development of the
community by ensuring that efficient primary and secondary
education, and in the case of a local authority in England, further
education, are available to meet the needs of the population within
its area.
 
Alternatives
considered and rejected:
The council was
required to meet its statutory duty to maintain sufficient places,
and consequently must work in partnership with all schools
(maintained and non-maintained) to manage sufficiency. Not
delivering additional capacity as requested in (2.3) of the report
could put the council in danger of not meeting its statutory
obligations.