This meeting covers a wide range of topics including climate change, school funding, waste management and procurement.

Climate Change

The Cabinet will be asked to note the progress that has been made in tackling climate change since the publication of the Greener Futures Climate Change Delivery Plan 2021-2025. It covers both Surrey County Council's own net zero 2030 target, and the progress towards Surrey's net zero 2050 target. The report sets out the progress that has been made in reducing emissions as well as achievements in reducing fuel poverty and improving resilience to climate change. It also recommends areas of focus for the next year of the delivery plan and asks the Cabinet to approve bringing forward the development of the next 5-year Greener Futures Climate Change Delivery Plan (2026-31).

School Funding

The Cabinet will be asked to decide on the principles for how school funding will be allocated in 2025-26. The budget is made up of money provided to the council by central government, called the Dedicated Schools Grant. That grant is split into 4 blocks:

1. Schools: This pays for all pupils aged 4-15 in all mainstream schools, including academies.
2. Schools' central services: This funds the council's responsibilities for schools, including school admissions, school improvement, and managing the capital programme.
3. High needs: This funds special schools and additional support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
4. Early years: This pays for nursery education for eligible children from the age of nine months to four years.

A statutory body called the Schools Forum makes recommendations on how the Dedicated Schools Grant should be allocated.

The report sets out the Schools Forum's formula recommendations for schools.

Because the final Dedicated Schools Grant figures are not yet known, the Cabinet will be asked to delegate authority to Julia Katherine, the interim Director of Education and Lifelong Learning, to approve the final funding allocations in consultation with Rachael Wardell, Executive Director of Children, Families and Lifelong Learning, and Clare Curran, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning.

Joint Waste Solutions and the Surrey Environment Partnership

The Cabinet will be asked to agree to withdraw from the Joint Waste Service (JWS), bringing certain services back in-house to Surrey County Council. JWS is the organisation that manages the joint waste collection service for Elmbridge, Mole Valley, Surrey Heath and Woking councils. Those services were transferred to JWS by Surrey County Council in 2018.

The Cabinet report recommends bringing the services back in-house, because government policies on waste management are changing. Some of these policies may increase the financial burden on Surrey County Council as the Waste Disposal Authority.

The report asks the Cabinet to delegate authority to Simon Crowther, the Interim Executive Director of Environment, Property and Growth, to implement the changes, in consultation with Andy Brown, Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of Resources, and Asmat Hussain, the Interim Director of Law and Governance.

Procurement

The Cabinet will be asked to give approval to procure goods and services on 149 contracts and to note that there is a pipeline of a further 46 potential procurement projects planned for 2026/27.

The report asks the Cabinet to delegate authority to the relevant Executive Director, Director or Head of Service to award any contracts where the successful bid is within 5% of the approved budget. In other cases, the report asks the Cabinet to agree that the contract award decision will be referred back to the Cabinet.

The Annual Procurement Forward Plan contains a very wide range of projects, and will be summarised below under the following headings:

• Waste
• Education
• Transport
• Adult Social Care
• Climate Change

Waste

The procurement projects include:

• A contract for the provision of leachate collection and disposal. Leachate is the liquid that drains from landfills. It is contaminated with pollutants and must be collected and disposed of safely. This contract is due to start on 8 April 2027.
• Splitting up the current waste contract to enable separate contracts for:
  • Community Recycling Centres (also known as the tip).
  • Waste Transfer Stations.
  • Garden Waste.
  • Street sweeping.
  • Dry mixed recycling.
  • EcoPark.
• A design, build and operate contract for a new Waste Transfer Station and Community Recycling Centre at Slyfield in Guildford. This is due to begin in November 2026.
• A design and build contract for a reuse hub at Ivydene Cottage in Shepperton. This is due to begin in September 2025.

Education

The procurement projects include:

• Software to manage resident educational data.
• Specialist social care financial software to meet the needs of children's social care.
• A Library Management System, covering Surrey and 23 other authorities in the Library Consortium. Sutton Council runs this procurement and the new contract would start in April 2026.
• New public access PCs for Surrey libraries.
• Electronic tagging of all library stock to enable the purchase of modern kiosks.

Transport

The procurement projects include:

• Renewal of contracts for supported bus services.
• The procurement of a commercial bus shelter contract.
• The introduction of 50 zero emission buses and minibuses, including 34 hydrogen buses. These are being procured through the Department for Transport’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme.
• A contract for the supply of salt for winter maintenance.
• Accelerating the introduction of a zero emissions fleet for Community Transport.
• The introduction of 8 electric buses.
• A contract to purchase real-time passenger information hardware, including screens and associated hardware.
• A contract for quantity surveying services.
• A contract for the provision of safety cameras.
• Provision of map-based IT systems mapping modules.
• A new Street Manager IT system, which is required by legislation.
• Provision of support for street works, including the expansion of the lane rental network. Lane rental schemes allow local authorities to charge utility companies for digging up busy roads at peak times.
• A contract for the digitisation of Traffic Regulation Orders.
• Scheduling and booking software for Digital Demand Responsive Transport.
• A hosted service for the Surrey County Council County Transport Model.

Adult Social Care

The procurement projects include:

• A contract for the delivery of emergency and planned support services for residents of Mitchison Court, an Extra Care Housing scheme in Sunbury-on-Thames. Extra Care Housing schemes offer housing and support to enable people to live independently in their own homes.
• A contract for learning and development training for Adult Social Care.
• Statutory and discretionary Adult Instructed Advocacy Services.
• A contract for Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) assessments. DoLS are designed to safeguard the rights of people who lack the mental capacity to consent to their care or treatment, and who are deprived of their liberty.
• A contract for the provision of home improvements to support independence and safety.
• A contract for the provision of a handy person service.
• A contract for stroke support services.
• Public Health agreements for GPs to provide statutory Public Health services.
• A contract for suicide bereavement support.
• A contract for the management of primary care data.
• A contract for public involvement in combating drugs.
• A contract for Personal Assistants support services.
• A contract for specialist trauma informed outreach services for clients with multiple disadvantages.
• A contract for capacity building for mental health prevention.
• A contract for a residential and nursing care home service for older people.
• A joint contract with the NHS for home based care and live in care.
• Contracts for carers prevention and wellbeing.
• Local Healthwatch and independent NHS advocacy services.

Climate Change

The procurement projects include:

• A contract to development of an Investment Plan for the Longcross Enterprise Zone.
• A contract to deliver business support and advice to 100 manufacturing companies across the South East as part of the Made Smarter Adoption programme. Made Smarter is a government-funded initiative that helps manufacturers adopt digital technologies.
• A contract for the provision of Universal Support.
• A contract to drive the county towards net zero. This would attract funding and simplify delivery approaches for the 2030 and 2050 teams.
• A contract to manage the rollout of the One Stop Shop, which provides household decarbonisation surveys and access to advice and trusted installers.
• A contract to deliver Solar Together, which is a bulk-buying scheme to provide residents with subsidised solar and battery storage.
• A contract to design a heat network.
• A contract to install roof-mounted solar installations.
• A contract to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
• A contract for tree planting.
• A contract for consultants to develop a business case for a solar farm.
• A contract for consultants to support the design of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.