Contact: Bob Eardley, Strategic Planning Manager, telephone 01962 846275 e-mail: [email protected]

1 Introduction

1.1 The County Council is a Pathfinder authority for the Government's Primary Capital Programme (PCP),which is intended to improve a substantial proportion of the primary, infant, junior and primary age special school stock over a fourteen year period. Authorities have been invited by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to submit a Strategy for Change to access this funding.

1.2 This new funding initiative from the DCSF is aimed at raising standards in primary schools, specifically those in areas of the greatest deprivation. At the same time local authorities are expected to reduce the number of surplus places in the primary sector and refurbish and remodel schools in order to provide facilities suitable for the 21^st century.

1.3 Capital grant of £6.5m is included in the 2008/09 capital programme for Children's Services and full details of the planned programme of work for the Pathfinder in Hampshire initiative were included in the capital programme report approved on 22 January 2008. The DCSF has announced funding allocations of £9.447m in 2009/10 and £11.825m in 2010/11 to support the programme, as reported in January 2008.

1.4 A Strategy for Change document, which sets out the proposed approach to managing future investment through the PCP has been drawn up and consulted upon. This report recommends that the document, which is attached as Appendix 1, is approved for submission to the DCSF.

1.5 The proposals in this report support the Corporate Strategies "Maximising well-being" and "Enhancing our quality of place" by identifying those areas of the county with high levels of deprivation where allocations of funding could be used to improve the environments of Hampshire schools.

1.6 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;

· Staying safe (being protected from harm and neglect): by creating safe environments in schools;

· 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 Recommendation

2.1 That the Strategy for Change document for the Primary Capital Programme, attached as Appendix 1, be approved for submission to the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

3 Hampshire County Council's Primary Capital Programme Strategy for Change submission

3.1 The purpose of the Strategy for Change document is to set out for approval by the DCSF how the County Council proposes to invest PCP funding to support the raising of educational attainment, improvements to well-being and centrality of schools at to their communities.

3.2 The Strategy for Change includes the following:

· a local perspective for the County Council, which sets out key facts about Hampshire, including demographic background and the emphasis placed on the learner;

· a baseline analysis of primary school provision and performance, covering:

_ school place planning;

_ performance at Key Stages 1 and 2;

_ initiatives already in place to raise attainment and improve health and well-being;

_ a summary of building issues affecting primary and primary age special school buildings.

· Long-term aims for the improvement of primary school education, covering:

_ underlying philosophy;

_ the role of schools in their communities;

_ collaboration among institutions, the local authority and other stakeholders;

_ strategic investment priorities through PCP;

· A plan for investment which prioritise those areas with the highest deprivation and lowest relative school performance. This approach identifies Havant and Gosport as the areas of the county which should receive the initial tranches of investment.

· Approach to change - how PCP will be implemented. This covers:

_ how and with whom consultation will be conducted;

_ funding, design and procurement issues.

4 Consultation

4.1 As part of the process of producing the Strategy for Change document a wide-ranging consultation has been undertaken with a variety of stakeholders. This has included schools, governors, children's centres, Church of England and Roman Catholic dioceses, Primary Care Trust, district councils and local childcare providers. The consultation period was five weeks.

4.2 A small number of responses were received, which were supportive of the proposals set out in the Strategy for Change. Discussions with headteachers' and governors' representatives were similarly positive. Some concern was expressed about the position of schools requiring investment which were not located in the highest priority areas. This is to some extent inevitable when the investment programme stretches across several years. Alternative funding sources, such as schools' devolved capital and New Deal for Schools, will continue to be available in parallel with PCP.

4.3 Investment proposals for the Havant and Gosport areas are currently being worked up and specific proposals will be submitted for Executive Member approval later in the year.

5 Legal implications

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

6 Financial implications

6.1 Funding through the PCP will be provided by the DCSF as capital grant, so supported borrowing will not be required to resource the programme. Details of the initial allocations were reported in January 2008

7 Personnel implications

7.1 None directly arising from this report.

8 Impact assessment

8.1 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 Crime prevention issues

9.1 None directly arising from this report.

10 Views of the Local County Councillor

10.1 Whenever a report is addressing proposals in one or more County Electoral Division, members' expectations are that, as the County Council's local elected representative, they will always be consulted and their views included in reports. All reports, therefore, should have a section reporting the outcome of consultations with the local member(s). [EM to be consulted about this priori to the report being finalised]

11 Conclusion

11.1 The PCP offers a valuable opportunity for long-term investment in Hampshire's schools. The Strategy for Change document recommended for submission to the DCSF sets out the vision to apply this investment to raise standards and improve facilities for schools and their wider communities.

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.