Contact: Martin Combs 01962 847479 martin.combs@hants.gov.uk

1. Summary

1.1 The following decisions are sought:

a) That all Hampshire County Council's outdoor and field studies centres, with the exception of the Sir Harold Hillier Education Service, be reviewed contingent upon d) below to establish the benefits of a single management operation within the Council, in order to ensure:

· A single, coherent, unified approach to the provision and delivery of outdoor education and field studies centres

· Equitable access by schools and organisations to Hampshire centres

· Efficient and simplified central management of centres

b) If it is agreed that centres come under one point of management, it is recommended that a further review is undertaken to ascertain progress against the recommendations in this report and with respect to:

· Achieving equity of access for Hampshire schools and young people's groups,

· Developing guidelines or policies to ensure that funding for Hampshire and Independent centres follow clear and common principles, and

· Ensuring that funding supports the achievement of Hampshire's corporate priorities

c) That work is undertaken with respect to the outdoor centres run by charitable trusts and currently supported by revenue grant funding. This should include an assessment of funding criteria and the fit of services and facilities provided by the independent centres with the overall provision of outdoor and field study opportunities by Hampshire County Council.

d) That market research is undertaken with respect to the promotion of Hampshire's centres, including to other target customer groups. Consideration also be given to promoting centres to maximise usage at periods of predictable low demand during the school year.

2. Reason

2.1 Implementation of the above decisions would deliver the following benefits:

· Enable a County wide approach to planning and managing outdoor and field studies centres in Hampshire, and provide greater efficiency, coherence and consistency of funding and access.

· Determine how or if the services provided by independently run centres fit with those provided by the Hampshire centres and how the overall provision of `out of classroom' education fits with County priorities.

· Strengthen marketing research and the promotion of centres in order to improve occupancy of centres particularly at periods of the school year that are less popular for school usage.

2.2 Implementation of the above decisions would support the County's Corporate Priorities of `maximising wellbeing' and `enhancing our quality of place'.

3. Other Options considered and rejected:

3.1 None

4. Conflicts of Interest declared by the decision maker or other Executive member consulted. None

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - none

6. Reason(s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent - none

Approved by:.....................

Councillor T K Thornber, CBE

Executive Member for Policy and Resources

Date: 28 January 2007