Contact: Peter Colenutt, Acting Joint Strategic Planning Manager,

Telephone 01962 846157 e-mail: [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 This report sets out proposed changes to the 2007/08 and the 2008/09 capital programmes and proposals for planning consent for a double temporary classroom.

1.2 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.

3.2 The five outcomes specified in the Children Act are set out below, with a summary of how the proposals in this report contribute to their achievement:

· Being healthy (enjoying good physical and mental health and living a health lifestyle): through proposals which include the encouragement of walking and cycling to and from school, the provision of health advice through children's centres and co-location with the Health Service;

· Staying safe (being protected from harm and neglect): by creating safe environments in schools, children's centres, children's homes and carers' homes;

· Enjoying and achieving (getting the most out of life and developing the skills for adulthood): by providing a high standard of education and care for children in suitable buildings;

· Making a positive contribution (being involved with the community and society and not engaging in anti-social or offending behaviour): by encouraging the flexible and creative use of accommodation;

· Economic well-being (not being prevented by economic disadvantage from achieving their full potential in life): by ensuring that proposals will not disadvantage children, will protect equality of opportunity and support children from no or low income families to secure skills and qualifications.

2 Recommendations

a) That the following variations to the 2007/08 capital programme be approved:

(i) Table 15 in the 2007/08 capital programme report showed two of the entries incorrectly transposed. The correct allocations are shown in Table 1 (paragraph 3.1) of this report.

(ii) New Deal for Schools Modernisation (Health & Safety)

- Hot Surface Protection - projects listed in Appendix 1.

- Arson Prevention Scheme - projects listed in Appendix 2.

- Fire Precautions work - projects listed in Appendix 3.

- Sustainability Funding - projects listed in Appendix 4.

(iii) School kitchens - approval is recommended for the projects listed in Appendix 5

(iv) That an additional £0.369m be allocated from the Youth Capital Fund to the major Youth project at Rowner, Gosport.

b) That the following variations to the 2008/09 capital programme be approved:

(i) New Deal for Schools Modernisation (Health & Safety)

- Hot Surface Protection -that £0.100m be approved, with match funding from Policy and Resources. The projects are listed in Appendix 7;

- Arson Protection Strategy - it is recommended that an annual allocation £0.025m, with match funding from Policy and Resources, from the block allocation for NDS be approved;

- Fire Precautions work - it is recommended that £0.100m, with match funding from Policy and Resources, be approved for projects listed in Appendix 8;

(ii) Temporary classrooms - approval is recommended for the following projects:

- Calthorpe Park Secondary School, Fleet - It is recommended that approval from the Executive Member for Policy and Resources is sought to submit a planning application for the siting of a double temporary classroom to be sited until August 2013.

3 Amendments to the 2007/08 Capital Programme

14 - 19 Agenda

3.1 The grant allocations from the DCSF were reported in the Children's Services capital programme paper to the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services on 23 January 2008. Table 15 of the paper showed two of the entries incorrectly transposed. The correct allocations are shown in Table 1.

Table 1

Consortium	Purpose	Amount of allocation £m
*Basingstoke	Virtual Learning Environment	0.100
*Eastleigh	Engineering diploma	0.476
Hart and Rushmoor	Infrastructure and facilities for IT diploma	0.653
Total		1.229

* Incorrectly shown in 23 January 2008 report

NDS Modernisation - Health and Safety

3.2 The 2007/08 Capital Programme includes for £0.650m for Health & Safety improvement works:

Hot surface protection

3.3 Work to provide protection to hot surface radiators and pipes in schools with vulnerable children has been in place for the last few years. The remaining Priority 1 school and early years establishment work was completed in 2007/08. A full list of the establishments concerned is shown in Appendix 1.

Arson prevention

3.4 13 projects to reduce the risk of arson in schools by creating secure bin stores were identified in 2007/08. A full list is attached as Appendix 2.

Fire precautions

3.5 Fire precaution work, jointly funded with Policy and Resources, has been completed at 14 schools, listed in Appendix 3.

Sustainability Funding

3.6 The capital programme report of 17 July 2007 referred to funding allocated towards sustainable initiatives in schools. Schemes are listed in Appendix 4.

School kitchen improvements

3.7 The 2007/08 capital programme includes provision of £0.250m for improvements to school kitchens. Funding of £0.300m has been made available by Policy and Resources to supplement this provision. The funding is allocated, as shown in Appendix 5, where the installation of new kitchens is part of a robust school plan to encourage healthy eating by improving the quality and uptake of school meals.

Youth Capital Fund

3.8 Capital grant through the Youth Capital Fund (YCF) was £0.514m for each of 2006/07, and 2007/08. Any unspent funding at 31 March 2008 has to be returned to the DCSF.

3.9 Approval was given to allocate all of this funding to a range of projects, but it was not possible to complete two major schemes in time to meet the DCSF's deadline. This would have resulted in £0.336m having to be returned. In order to maximise central government grant, it is proposed to allocate this funding to the major youth project at Rowner, Gosport. £0.469m was spent on the Rowner project in 2006/7, of which £0.100m was funded through the Youth Capital Fund, with the remainder being met from other County Council sources. The whole of this project was eligible for YCF funding. By 31 March 2008, £0.014m of the £1.028m was not spent and this will need to be returned to DCSF; however, £0.322m is available to be carried forward into 2008/09 to fund projects which it was not possible to start in 2007/08. Full details of the projects funded through YCF will be included in the end of year report in July 2008.

4 Action taken by the Director of Children's Services

4.1 Under delegated powers, and following consultation with the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services (Education), approval has been given to a number of items below £0.250m. These are listed in Appendix 6.

5 Amendments to the 2008/09 programme

Early Years and Childcare capital grant

5.1 As agreed on 23 January 2008, the 2008/09 programme includes Sure Start Early Years and Childcare Grant (SSEYCG) to support the delivery of the Government's strategy for childcare to develop a core set of services in schools as set out in the Extended Schools prospectus. A total of £15.135m of capital grant is available over three years from 2008/09 to 2010/11 per year. The expectation is that the majority of the Early Years capital will be used to improve the quality of the learning environment in private, voluntary and independent (PVI) early years settings to support the delivery of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), with particular emphasis on improving play and physical activities and ICT resources. This will both support higher quality experiences for young children and ensure that all children can access services and benefit fully from them. It is also acceptable to allocate funding to priority projects within the maintained sector. The aim is to ensure that all children, including disabled children, are able to access childcare provision. It will enable PVI providers to deliver the extension to the free offer for 3 and 4 year olds and to do so flexibly.

5.2 A strategic plan for allocating this funding has been produced to prioritise funding and will be consulted upon, and bids invited from June to December. The key points of the strategy are:

· improve the quality of the learning environment in early years settings to support the delivery of the EYFS, with a particular emphasis on improving play and physical activities and ICT resources;

· ensure all children, including disabled children, are able to access provision;

· enable PVI providers to deliver the extension to the free offer for three and four year olds and to do so flexibly.

Bids will be considered by an assessment panel in December with recommendations for allocations being made in January 2009.

NDS Modernisation - Health and Safety

5.3 The 2008/09 capital programme includes provision of £0.650m for Health and Safety projects. It is proposed to split this funding as shown in Table 3.

Table 3

Type of work	Amount of allocation £m
Hot surface protection	0.100
Arson reduction	0.025
Swimming pools	0.375
Fire precautions	0.100
Unallocated	0.050
Total	0.650

Hot Surface Protection

5.4 A list of proposed projects is attached as Appendix 7. Policy and Resources is providing match funds.

Arson Protection Strategy

5.5 A preventative strategy to reduce the risk of arson on school sites was started in 2006. The strategy involves the moving of refuse bins from areas close to school buildings to more secure locations where the risk of fires spreading is greatly reduced. This has helped manage the fire risk over the last two years. Funding this will be matched by an allocation from Policy and Resources and it is hoped that individual schools will also contribute, allowing more establishments to be covered.

Fire Precautions work

5.6 A list of proposed projects, jointly funded with Policy and Resources, is attached as Appendix 8.

6 Action taken by the Director of Children's Services

6.1 Under delegated powers, and following consultation with the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services (Education), approval has been given to a number of items below £0.250m. These are listed in Appendix 9.

7 Building Schools for the Future

7.1 The County Council was informed in 2004 that it would be included in Waves 7 to 15 of Building Schools for the Future (BSF). This meant that BSF funding would not be available in Hampshire until 2011 at the earliest. At the beginning of March 2008 Wave 7 authorities were invited by the DCSF to express an interest in joining an interim Wave of BSF, subject to satisfying a number of specific criteria. This would mean that BSF funding could be accessed earlier.

7.2 The invitation was accepted and a Statement of Readiness to Deliver was submitted on 11 April 2008 in accordance with the timetable set out by the DCSF and its BSF delivery partner, Partnerships for Schools (PfS). The submission is currently being considered and a decision is expected in mid-June.

7.3 BSF funding is expected by the DCSF to be applied initially to areas with the highest levels of deprivation and lowest levels of GCSE performance. Analysis of recent data shows that the schools in the Havant area should be at the top of the County Council's priority list and accordingly discussions have begun with the chairmen of governors and headteachers of secondary schools and secondary age special schools in the Havant 14-19 consortium area about the implementation of BSF, should the submission for inclusion in the interim Wave of BSF be successful.

7.4 A more detailed report will be submitted in July 2008, when the outcome of the submission is known.

8 Temporary classrooms

New temporary classrooms

Calthorpe Park Secondary School, Fleet

8.1 Calthorpe Park School has a capacity of 1,050 places and a current number on roll of 971. Discussions have taken place with the headteacher regarding accepting above the school's published admission number (PAN) of 210 to accommodate pupils from the school's catchment area. Agreement has been reached that the school would accept the additional pupils in Year 7 for September 2008.

8.2 There has been a history of turbulence on the allocation list from March, when admissions decisions are taken, through to September when pupils take up their places. To ensure flexibility and allow the school to organise into eight forms of entry and deliver the curriculum, additional temporary accommodation will be required. This accommodation will enable the school to accommodate the potential additional pupils over and above the PAN.

8.3 The long-term forecast shows an increase in demand for secondary school provision in Fleet. Therefore, it is recommended that approval from the Executive Member for Policy and Resources is sought to submit a planning application for the siting of a double temporary classroom to be sited until August 2013. The cost can be met from the 2008/09 revenue budget for temporary classroom provision.

9 County Council policy requirements

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

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

9.3 Personnel implications - None directly arising from this report.

9.4 Impact assessment - The proposals in this report are derived from the departmental service plans and central government policies and are in accordance with the budget strategy and the County Council's financial management policy. An impact assessment of the departmental service plans and the financial management policy has been carried out and the proposals in this report are not considered to be discriminatory.

9.5 Crime prevention issues - All of the capital schemes included in this report are undertaken with a view to maximising crime prevention. In particular projects to relocate refuse bin stores are intended to reduce the risk of arson.

10 Conclusion

10.1 The investment programme outlined in this report supports County Council priorities and Government policies for the provision of accommodation in schools.

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.

None.