Contact: Bob Eardley, Strategic Planning Manager, telephone 01962 846275;

email: [email protected]

3 Introductory

3.6 This report sets out proposed changes to the 2007/08 capital programme.

3.7 The proposals in this report support the Corporate Strategies "Maximising well-being" and Enhancing our quality of place" by proposing allocations of funding to improve the environments of Hampshire schools and children's homes.

2. Recommendations

a) That the following variations to the2007/08 Children's Services capital programme be approved:

(i) a consolidated budget of £21.771m for the provision of Phase 2 of the Children's Centres programme;

(ii) an increase of £0.529m in the estimated cost of the major project at The Bridge Education Centre, Eastleigh, to a total of £1.649m;

(iii) an increase of £0.316m in the estimated cost of the major project at Marnel Infant and Marnel Junior Schools, Basingstoke, to a total of £3.691m;

(iv) a contribution of £0.099m to the major project at The Lanterns Children's Centre, Winchester, to be funded initially from the capital programme contingency, pending availability of a capital receipt from the sale of the former Greenacres School, Winchester.

3. Amendments to the 2007/08 capital programme

Significant variations to major projects

Bridge Education Centre, Eastleigh

3.1 The 2007/08 capital programme includes an allocation of £1.120m for adaptation of the former Tankerville School building, Eastleigh to house the Bridge Education Centre, which is currently located in inadequate temporary buildings on a leased site in Colden Common. At the time the 2007/08 programme was prepared, feasibility work for this project was in hand and costings were based on historical allocations based on desktop analysis without the benefit of detailed knowledge of the building and the adaptations and major repairs required.

3.2 Detailed design work has now been carried out and more accurate estimates have been drawn up indicating that the overall cost of the project, including work to the structure of the building is estimated at £2.175m. Provision is also being made for office accommodation for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), the full cost of which is being met from PCT capital, estimated at £0.530m. Policy and Resources is making a substantial contribution in recognition of the structural repairs and improvements required to the building. The proposed funding sources are set out in Table 1.

Table 1

Funding source	£'m
Children's Services capital programme 2007/08	1.649
Policy and Resources	0.370
Education centres devolved capital	0.156
CAMHS	0.530
Total	2.705

3.3 This project represents good value for money given the provision which will result and the increased provision of £1.649m is recommended for approval.

Marnel Infant and Junior Schools, Basingstoke

3.4 A project to increase the capacity of Marnel Infant and Marnel Junior Schools, in response to major new housing, is included in the 2007/08 programme at an estimated cost of £3.375m. Initial plans and costings for this project excluded provision of space for an existing early years group, as it was unclear at that time whether this facility would relocate to the children's centre building to be provided for this area of Basingstoke. It is now clear that this facility will not relocate and space for it is therefore required in the extended infant school building. The additional cost is estimated at £0.316m and this increased sum is recommended for approval, giving a total estimated project cost of £3.691m.

3.5 The additional funding recommended for The Bridge and Marnel schools projects can be met from the unallocated balance of resources carried forward from 2006/07 and from the Children's Services share of capital receipts.

Lantern's Children's Centre, Winchester

3.6 The major project to provide an innovative new Early Years Centre in Winchester was successfully completed in September 2005. Since that time, negotiations with the main contractor have been ongoing to conclude the final account. This has recently been settled and the project was overspent by under 5% of the contract sum (£0.099m). This was principally due to three issues:

· unforeseen services infrastructure in the pavement which had to be diverted to satisfy the statutory authorities;

· additional spoil being taken off-site due to particular local ground conditions discovered during excavations;

· additional specialist fitting-out to suit the specialist nature of the facility.

3.7 It should be noted that none of these issues were apparent at the time of tender. The Executive Member is asked to approve the additional funding for this successful project from the increased value of the capital receipt from the sale of the adjacent Greenacres site and other disposals in Winchester which were identified to fund the project. The need for additional funding will, therefore, not require any compensating adjustments to the remainder of the capital programme.

3.8 In order that contractual payments may be made, it is recommended that £0.099m is made available from the contingency and repaid when the capital receipt is available.

Funding for early years projects

3.9 The DfES announced recently that its grant support for early years projects in 2006/07 and 2007/08 was to be reprofiled; this reprofiling involved an increase in allocations and is set out in Table 2.

Table 2

Original allocations		Revised allocations
2006/07 £m	2007/08 £m	2006/07 £m	2007/08 £m
10.226	9.549	7.060	13.250
19.775		20.310

3.10 The resources carried forward from 2006/07 under this heading take account of this reprofiling, as well as commitments entered into against the children's centres programme, sustainability grants to existing early years providers and capital expenditure to support the extended schools initiative.

3.11 The DfES has recently announced that it has disallowed grant payments requested for the 2005/06 financial year relating to funding for children's centres and other early years initiatives. This decision follows extensive correspondence with the department seeking to justify the claim. These deductions total £0.473m and this amount needs to be deducted from the 2007/08 cash limit.

3.12 Previous reports have referred to the difficulties of funding the capital requirements of Phase 2 of the children's centres programme and additional resources from the Children's Services capital programme have been identified to achieve the necessary funding. A costed building programme at 38 locations has now been produced and is reported elsewhere on this agenda. While this programme is affordable within the proposed budget provision, significant cost uncertainties remain and very close monitoring of projected and actual costs is being maintained as the programme progresses. In addition, there are time pressures, as projects need to be completed by 30 September 2008 in order to qualify for DfES grant.

3.13 It is proposed to apply unallocated resources totalling £0.345m carried forward from 2006/07 to the provision for children's centres. In addition, an anticipated capital receipt of £1.250m from part of the sale proceeds from Shepherd's Spring Infant School, Andover is proposed for inclusion in the revised provision for children's centres. The allocation for the Andover centre is in accordance with the Cabinet decision of 27 July 2006 on the north-east Andover primary schools review. A report recommending prudential borrowing against the anticipated receipt will be brought forward later in the year.

3.14 Work is well advanced to identify sites for the remaining 38 children's centres to meet the requirements of Phase 2 of the national children's centres programme.. A consolidated budget of £21.771m to fund the remainder of the expenditure required to complete Phase 2 of the children's centres programme is included in the revised 2007/08 programme. The budget figure is analysed in Table 3.

Table 3

Funding source	£m
DfES grant 2007/08	13.250
Approved carry forwards from 2006/07:
Early years programme	6.874
Other Children's Services programmes	0.525
DfES adjustment (para. 3.11)	-0.473
Unallocated sum (para 3.13)	0.345
Shepherd's Spring anticipated capital receipt	1.250
Total	21.771

4. County Council Policy Requirements

4.1 Legal implications - The proposals support the County Council's statutory duty to provide school places and comply with central government accommodation requirements and guidance.

4.2 Financial implications - These are set out in the report.

4.3 Personnel implications - None directly arising from this report.

4.4 Community cohesion, inclusiveness and partnership working - Most of the capital projects proposed in this report support these aims.

4.5 Crime prevention issues - None directly arising from this report.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

The following documents discuss facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB: the list excludes

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.