Archived decisions

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Decision Report :

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1) Summary of Decision Area:

1.1. This report seeks approval for submission of the proposed capital programme for 2009/10 to 2011/12 to the Leader and Cabinet.

1.2. The report has been prepared in consultation with the Executive Member and will be reviewed by the Children and Young People Select Committee. It will be reported to the Leader and Cabinet on 6 February 2009 to make final recommendations to County Council on 19 February 2009.

2) Issues Covered in Report:

2.1. The report considers the schemes which it is proposed to include in the capital programmes for 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12.

2.2. The proposals contained in this report are derived from the departmental service plan(s) which have been developed to support the priorities of the Corporate Strategy.

3) Recommendations:

3.1. The capital programme for 2009/10 to 2011/12 as set out in Appendix 1 be approved for submission to the Leader and Cabinet.

3.2. That the deferral of resources of £6.836m, relating to schemes of £16.029m be approved for submission to Cabinet as shown in Table 13 of this report.

3.3. That the following variations to the 2008/09 capital programme be approved:

a) The addition of resources of £0.111m from ICT capital grant for mobile technology to support children's social workers and the allocation of this sum to minor works and equipment provision;

b) The addition of resources of £0.286m of government grant for School Travel Plans as shown in Appendix 3;

c) The addition of resources of £0.898m of government grant for reducing surplus places as referred to in paragraph 5.2;

d) That the addition of resources of £0.290m of developer contributions as shown in Appendix 10 be added to the 2009/10 programme;

e) A revised programme of Schools Access Initiative projects, as set out in Appendix 4;

f) A revised programme for Phase 2 of the Children's Centres programme, as set out in Appendix 5;

g) Individual allocations for a range of projects listed in Appendix 6, agreed by the Director of Children's Services;

h) That £9.076m of the proposed prudential borrowing for 2008/09 not be taken up as referred to in paragraph 16.6;

3.4. That the Schools Access Initiative projects for 2009/10 be approved as set out in Appendix 7;

3.5. That the approval of the Executive Member for Policy and Resources be sought for applications for planning consent until 31 December 2012 for temporary classrooms at:

· Laverstoke Park, Overton (one double temporary classroom);

· St Francis Special School, Fareham;

· Costello Technology College, Basingstoke;

· Calthorpe Park Secondary School, Fleet.

MAIN REPORT

1) Purpose of the Report:

1.1. This report sets out the proposed Children's Services capital programme for 2009/10 to 2011/12. This report has been prepared in consultation with the Executive Member and will be reviewed by the Children and Young People Select Committee. It will be reported to the Leader and Cabinet on 6 February 2009 to make final recommendations to County Council on 19 February 2009.

2) Contextual Information:

2.1. In approving the medium term financial strategy on 27 October 2008, the Cabinet requested that executive members prepare proposals for:

· a locally-resourced capital programme for the three-year period from 2009/10 to 2011/12 within guidelines that spread the existing capital programme for 2009/10 and 2010/11 over three years. This is in recognition of the sharp decline in the expected availability of capital receipts over the next three years as a result of the condition of the housing market

· a programme of capital schemes supported by Government grants or supported borrowing in 2009/10 and 2010/11 and those expected to be supported in 2011/12, subject to limits restricting the take-up of Government supported borrowing approvals.

2.2. The medium term financial strategy is closely linked to the Corporate Strategy and the Corporate Business Plan to ensure that priorities are affordable and provide value for money and that resources follow priorities.

2.3. 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 healthy 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.

3) Key Issues

3.1. As the Government has previously announced details of its support for capital schemes in 2009/10 and 2010/11, the cash limit guidelines for the programme supported by Government borrowing allocations for those years remain unchanged. They continue to allow for not taking up Government supported borrowing in full, based on the existing policy of limiting the increase in the capital financing requirement to 2.5% per annum, subject to the specific decisions taken in 2008/09 to support additional borrowing.

3.2. Details of Government support for projects in 2011/12 will not be known until after the Government's Spending Review expected in 2009, but Cabinet has agreed that programmes for 2011/12 can be planned provisionally, where this is appropriate, on the basis of the best information available on potential future levels of support after taking account of the policy of limiting the increase in the capital financing requirement. On this basis, the proposed programme for 2011/12 is based on the cash limit for schemes supported by Government allocations for 2010/11.

3.3. The Children's Services capital programme is based on credit approvals from the Government through the Single Capital Pot, Government grants, capital receipts, developers' contributions and local resources. The availability of Government grants and borrowing approvals, together with developers' contributions, is set out in Table 4. Any capital receipts for 2009/10 available to support the Children's Services capital programme will be added to these guidelines with the closure of the 2008/09 accounts.

4) Capital programme 2009/10 to 2011/12 - schemes supported by Government approvals:

4.1. Cabinet set the provisional limits shown in Table 1 for the use of supported borrowing for Children's Services to reflect the announcements by the Government of its allocations for 2008/09 onwards. For 2008/09 and 2009/10 these reductions are significant, but are less so for 2010/11 because of a shift by the DCSF to allocating most NDS funding in that year through capital grant rather than supported borrowing.

Table 1

Year	New pupil places	NDS Modernis-ation (borrowing part only shown here)	Schools Access Initiative	Extra Agreed Jan 2008 (included in £4.211m already carried forward)	Reduction	Totals
	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
2009/10	6.231	6.352	2.447	1.500	-3.832	12.698
2010/11	6.231	0.524	2.447	0.000	-1.760	7.442
2011/12 (Assumed)	6.231	0.524	2.447	0.000	-1.760	7.442

4.2. The £1.500m in Table 1 is included in a figure of £4.211m which has already been carried forward to 2009/10, as agreed by the Executive Lead member on 24 July 2008. This is not therefore shown separately Table 4.

4.3. As in previous years, the overall allocation of New Deal for Schools (NDS) funding is split between the suitability (improvement) work and funding to address the backlog of building condition work, which is managed by Policy and Resources. A split of these resources in the ratio of 54% to condition, and 46% to suitability was agreed by Executive Members in July 2003, and this split is reflected in the current year's programme. This funding is a combination of borrowing approvals and grant. Table 2 shows the split between borrowing approvals and grant for 2009/10 and 2010/11, as well as the amounts assumed for 2011/12.

Table 2

Year	Total grant for NDS	Total borrowing approval for NDS	Total NDS	Children's Services share of grant for NDS	Children's Services share of borrowing for NDS	Total Children's Services share
	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
2009/10	0.000	13.810	13.810	0.000	6.352	6.352
2010/11	10.949	1.140	12.088	5.036	0.524	5.560
2011/12 (assumed)	10.949	1.140	12.088	5.036	0.524	5.560

4.4. Schemes funded by government grant can be added to the borrowing approvals shown at Table 1. The announced capital grants for 2009/10 and 2010/11, as well as the assumed grants for 2011/12 are shown in Table 3.

Table 3

4.5. The column headed "Other grants" consists in 2009/10 of £0.514m for Youth Capital Fund, £2.254m for Targeted Capital Fund, £0.600m for Food Technology grant, £0.900m for Adult Safeguarded Learning and £0.681m for Short breaks for families with disabled children. The 2010/11 figures are £0.514m for Youth Capital Fund, £6.300m for Targeted Capital Fund and £1.588m for short breaks for families with disabled children.

4.6. On the basis of the position outlined above, resources available for each of the three forward years to 2011/12 are as set out in Table 4.

Table 4

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12 (assumed)	Total
	£m	£m	£m	£m
Carry Forward from 2008/09 approved in July 2008	4.211	0.000	0.000	4.211
Further carry forward from 2008/09 as recommended in this paper	4.849	1.987	0.000	6.836
Carry forward 2009/10 into 2010/11	-1.289	1.289	0.000	0.000
New Pupil Places supported borrowing	6.231	6.231	6.231	18.693
NDS Modernisation supported borrowing	6.352	0.524	0.524	7.400
Schools Access Initiative supported borrowing	2.447	2.447	2.447	7.341
Reduction in supported borrowing	-3.832	-1.760	-1.760	-7.352
Developers' contributions	0.000	16.121	0.000	16.121
Schools' Devolved Capital grant	21.049	21.049	21.049	63.147
Primary Capital Programme grant	9.447	11.825	6.000	27.272
Sure Start capital grant	10.123	7.787	0.000	17.910
Extended Schools grant	2.030	1.049	0.000	3.079
NDS Modernisation grant	0.000	5.036	5.036	10.072
Targeted Capital grants	2.254	6.300	0.000	8.554
Youth Capital grant	0.514	0.514	0.000	1.028
Food Technology Grant	0.600	0.000	0.000	0.600
Adult Safeguarded Learning	0.900	0.000	0.000	0.900
Short breaks for families with disabled children	0.681	1.588	0.000	2.269
Corporate Resources	0.132	0.132	0.088	0.352
Reduction to carry forward to 2009/10	-0.044	-0.044	0.000	-0.088
Totals	66.655	82.075	39.615	188.345

4.7. Resources totalling £6.836m are proposed to be carried forward from 2008/09 in addition to the £4.211m agreed in July 2008, totalling £11.047m, of which £1.987m is to be carried forward to 2010/11. These are set out in detail in section 16.

5) Three year capital allocations 2009/10-2011/12 - overview

5.1. The DCSF announced three year capital allocations from 2008/09 to 2010/11 in October 2007. The County Council has been disadvantaged by a number of changes made in the allocation procedures, as indicated below. In order to produce a provisional capital programme for 2011/12 (i.e. beyond the current announcements) a number of assumptions have been made. The position is set out below.

· New pupil places - Funding remains at the same level as 2008/09 and is welcome in the context of the number of new primary schools needed to serve new housing developments, but is still some way short of what is required;

· New Deal for Schools Modernisation - The reduction from earlier years in 2010/11 will seriously impair the ability to improve facilities in schools, e.g. temporary classroom replacements and modernisation of specialist facilities such as science laboratories. There will also be a major effect on the Policy and Resources programme for major maintenance of school buildings, which is funded from this source;

· Primary Capital Programme - This programme is intended to improve a substantial proportion of the primary and primary age special school stock over a fifteen year period. The County Council was a Pathfinder authority in 2008/09. New funding is available in 2009/10 (£9.447m) and 2010/11 (£11.825m) to support this programme. The DCSF invited authorities to submit a Strategy for Change document to access this funding in June 2008. Hampshire's strategy was approved by the DCSF without modification in November 2008. Details of the planned investment are covered in paragraph 7.5 and section 10;

· Schools Access Initiative - This allocation is £2.447m, as in 2008/09. As the County Council is unable to take up the full borrowing allocation, actual programme resources will be significantly below this figure, at £1.000m for 2009/10 and 2010/11 (and provisionally for 2011/12). The programme supports the adaptation of mainstream schools to meet the requirements of pupils with special needs.

5.2 Funding for the following initiatives was allocated by the DCSF on a one-off basis for the three financial years 2008/09-2010/11 and cannot be assumed to continue in 2011/12.

· Extended Schools - a total of £3.079m of capital grant is available, £2.030m for 2009/10 and £1.049m for 2010/11.

· Children's Centres Phase 3 - the strategy for implementation of phase 3 Children's Centres was approved by the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services (Education) on 16 October 2008 to develop 25 phase 3 Children's Centres and their associated notional catchment areas. A total of £8.750m of capital grant is available for 2009/10 to 2010/11. The allocations include £0.930m for capital maintenance of children's centres, which will be made available through the Policy and Resources capital programme.

· Early Years and Childcare capital - a total of £10.090m of capital grant is available for 2009/10 and 2010/11. This grant is to improve the quality of accommodation in early years and childcare settings, mainly those operated by private providers. £5.045m is available in each year. A strategic plan for allocating this funding has been produced to prioritise funding and was reported to ELMCS (Education) on 22 May 2008.

· Youth Capital Fund - Funding to develop youth premises continues in 2009/10 and 2010/11, with an annual allocation of £0.514m through capital grant.

· Targeted Capital Fund (TCF) - Allocations of £2.254m in 2009/10 and £6.300m in 2010/11 are flat rates. This funding is available to support SEN and 14-19 projects. A recent successful bid to the DCSF for additional capital funding to support the current programme of surplus place removals in schools with more than 25% surplus places has reduced the funding requirements for this work from the current capital programme by £0.900m to enable other projects to be brought forward. £0.344m is also available in 2008/09 and is referred to in paragraph 16.25.

· Transforming short breaks for families with disabled children (£2.269m in 2009/10 and £0.681m in 2010/11 totalling £1.588m). This allocation is intended to improve opportunities for families with disabled children to enjoy short breaks. Specific proposals will be brought forward when detailed guidance is available.

· Food Technology Grant - A bid was made to the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) in October 2008 for capital funding to provide food technology spaces in secondary schools who currently have no such facility. The bid was successful and the DCSF have allocated £600,000 exceptional targeted capital funding to Hampshire County Council, to be divided equally between Purbrook Park School and Limington House Special School. Funding will be made available via the Standards Fund at the start of the new financial year, to be spent during 2009/10.

· Adult Safeguarded Learning Grant (ASL Grant) - Following a successful bid to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) £0.9m has been added to the capital programme to provide Adult learning spaces at Brookfield Community School and Language College, Sarisbury and the Hurst Community College (With Specialist Science Status), Baughurst. These places will replace provision currently in temporary classrooms. The full cost of the proposed works is £1.000m and it is proposed to commit £0.100m from within the overall cash limit for 2009/10.

6) Provision of new pupil places

Primary Schools

6.1. Although primary school rolls generally are continuing to fall, there is significant growth in numbers in some areas of the county because of major new housing developments. In addition to future years' formulaic allocations for new pupil places, significant developers' contributions will also be available. The developer contributions are dependant on house completions for which the current economic climate is putting some considerable questions over the timing of the new housing. The downturn in the housing market will impact on the timing of the new schools. Detailed discussions will continue to take place with district councils and developers to keep abreast of the situation. There is, however, no specific provision to support the remodelling of accommodation necessary to make best use of resources during a time of falling rolls.

6.2. In the context of the localised need for additional primary school places referred to above, the proposed new primary schools for Andover, at East Anton and Picket Twenty, will appear in the 2010/11 programme. It is anticipated that the first new primary school to serve the West of Waterlooville development will also appear in the 2010/11 programme.

6.3. The new primary schools (Andover and West of Waterlooville) are funded with significant developers' contributions. The developers' contributions for West of Waterlooville are sufficient to fund only the first of two primary schools which will be needed to serve the development. The cost of the second school, which is not expected to be required for several years, will need to be funded from capital programme resources. Prudential borrowing will be required to fund the schools up front in anticipation of the developers' contributions. The maximum requirement will be for £16.121m in 2010/11. In practice the requirement is likely to be less for the new East Anton school, as the flow of developers' contributions is likely to be quite favourable.

6.4. The cost of new schools is very high proportionate to that of other types of capital work. The need to start work on three new primary schools during 2010/11 will place significant strain on available resources, given the funding constraints outlined above, with the result that the scope to maintain momentum on general improvement programmes, such as New Deal for Schools, is reduced.

Secondary schools

6.5. With the exception of secondary school places in Fleet, see paragraphs 19.3 - 19.8, there is no other outstanding need for additional places in the secondary sector and this position is unlikely to change significantly in the next few years, as numbers overall continue to fall. There is more scope for accommodating local variations in demand for secondary places because the schools generally serve larger areas than most primary schools.

7) Other formulaic allocations

7.1. In addition to the funding for new pupil places, a number of formula allocations have been confirmed by the DCSF. They are discussed in more detail below.

New Deal for Schools Modernisation fund

7.2. The DCSF consulted in June 2007 on major changes to its approach to allocating New Deal for Schools (NDS) Modernisation Fund to individual local authorities. In the past these have been based on the DCSF's assessment of relative need among authorities, following detailed submissions through the Asset Management Plan (AMP) of the range of work needed to bring school buildings up to the standards required to teach the modern curriculum.

7.3. Allocations are proposed in the 2009/10 programme for modernisation work in primary and secondary schools and education centres, which will address issues such as inadequate halls, specialist provision in primary schools and refurbishment of science and technology spaces in several secondary schools. As in previous years, several block allocations are recommended, including amounts for management of falling rolls (£0.700m), health and safety (£0.600m), workforce provision (£0.150m plus £0.218m carry forward from 2008/09) and the costs of progressing land sales (£0.150m) and adaptation of foster carers' homes (£0.150m) are also recommended.

7.4. Recommendations for the allocation of block votes to specific projects will be made early in the programme year.

Primary Capital Programme

7.5. The planned investment through the Primary Capital Programme will improve a substantial proportion of the primary and primary age special school stock over a fifteen year period. Following the approval of Hampshire's strategy in November 2008 detailed discussions with schools will commence in early 2009 in respect of the planned investment programme for 2009/10 and 2010/11 for Leigh Park, Havant and Gosport. Proposals for projects to be included in the capital programmes for those years will be brought forward during 2009. It is anticipated that the 2011/12 allocation will be about £6.000m.

Schools' devolved formula capital

7.6. An allocation of £21.049m has been made by the DCSF in 2009/10 and 2010/11 for devolved formula capital for all schools. This will be allocated according to the DCSF formula set out in Table 5 and is intended to fund high priority projects identified through schools' AMPs. The formula for 2009/10 and 2010/11 is the same as that for 2008/09, and it uses an allocation formula based on the modernised/ unmodernised approach.

Table 5

	2008/09 & 2009/10 & 2010/11
	Modernised schools £	Unmodernised schools £
Per nursery/primary pupil	31.50	63.00
Per secondary pupil	47.25	94.50
Per SEN/PRU pupil (special schools and PRUs only for 2008/09))	94.50	189.00
Lump sum (all schools)	9,250	18,500

7.7. Officers continue to work closely with schools to ensure that devolved formula capital allocations are spent appropriately on Asset Management Plan priorities. There is particular emphasis on ensuring that they are used in conjunction with County Council and other capital resources so that the maximum number of schools benefit and that resulting projects make optimum use of available resources.

Schools Access Initiative

7.8. Proposals for specific projects in 2009/10 are shown in Appendix 7.

8) Developers' contributions

8.1. Developers' contributions are an increasing source of resources for the Children's Services capital programme, albeit that they only cover costs incurred and their availability is likely to slow down to match the rate of house building. The current policy for contributions was approved by the Executive Member for Children's Services on 24 July 2008. Contributions fall into three categories:

· where funding for a project has been allocated from the capital programme in advance of the contribution being received. The receipt is therefore repaying past expenditure and is available to add to the current year's cash limit;

· where funding has been borrowed through the School Balances Loan Scheme or the Prudential Code to enable a project to begin in advance of the contribution being received. The receipt is used to repay borrowing;

· where funding is available for a specific project, to be identified, within the area of the housing development to which the contribution relates.

8.2. A number of developers' contributions have been received during the current financial year as listed in Appendix 10. Funding of £0.290m is available to be added to the 2008/09 cash limit and is included in the resources recommended to be carried forward to 2009/10; £1.271m will be used to offset approved borrowing and £0.290m will be added to the 2009/10 cash limit to fund projects to be identified.

9) Capital funding for early years and childcare

9.1. Allocations through capital grant for the provision of Phase 3 of the children's centres programme and to facilitate the improvement of existing childcare provision have been made for each of the three forward years. The resources available for early years and extended schools provision are summarised in Table 6. Specific expenditure proposals will be submitted during 2009. The amounts shown in Table 6 exclude a total of £0.930m for capital maintenance of Children's Centres as referred to in paragraph 5.2.

Table 6

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12 (assumed)	Totals
	£m
Children's centres Phase 3	5.078	2.742	0.000	7.820
Early years and childcare	5.045	5.045	0.000	10.090
Totals	10.123	7.787	0.000	17.910

10) Primary Capital Programme projects

10.1. As reported on 17 July 2007, the County Council is a Pathfinder authority for the Government's Primary Capital Programme (PCP). This is a new grant funded resource stream intended to pay for far-reaching improvements to primary schools over a period of up to fifteen years.

2009/10 and 2010/11 programme

10.2. PCP funding of £9.447m is available in 2009/10, with £11.825m in 2010/11 and is proposed to be allocated to a number of projects in the Havant and Gosport areas, along with the East New Forest Special school project (approved by the Cabinet on 21 May 2007) and in accordance with the County Council's submission to the DCSF in June 2008. Further design and costing work is currently being undertaken and recommendations for specific projects will be brought back to the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services (Education) in the spring term. Proposals are summarised in table 7.

Table 7

11) Borrowing through the School Balances Loan Fund and Prudential Code for Capital Finance

11.1. Borrowing through the School Balances Loan Scheme and Prudential Code for Capital Finance provides access to capital funding in advance of capital receipts and developers' contributions becoming available. The School Balances Loan Scheme allows borrowing for capital projects against planned receipts up to a level of 25% of overall balances. Borrowing under the Prudential Code became available from 1 April 2004 and requires Cabinet approval.

11.2. Such borrowing is necessary to provide new school places at the appropriate time and to allow projects such as provision of new children's centres and education centres, which require building adaptations, to proceed. In value for money terms, providing new school places as early as practicable, to meet demand from new housing developments, ensures that school places are located where they are needed and that pressure on other schools and the need for pupils to travel are minimised.

11.3. To date £4.025m has been borrowed under the School Balances Loan Scheme and by the end of 2008/09 £1.023m will have been repaid; the remainder of the borrowing is scheduled for repayment by 2010/11. However, this is dependant on market conditions and the ability to sell the land in question. It should be noted that interest charges will continue to accrue until the repayment is made.

11.4. For schemes starting in 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08 £39.975m is expected to be borrowed through the Prudential Code; £18.794m of this amount has been repaid to date, with the rest due for repayment when market conditions for the sale of land improve. Borrowing of £2.814m was approved for the 2008/09 programme. The extent to which the market recovers is unclear at this stage and the scope for fully repaying the loans raised to date will be monitored.

11.5. No additional borrowing is proposed for the 2009/10 programme. Full details of borrowing under the School Balances Loan Scheme and through the Prudential Code are set out in Appendix 9.

11.6. Following a decision by Cabinet on 10 February 2006 that the costs of borrowing through the Prudential Code should be borne by individual services, provision has been made in the 2009/10 programme to meet continuing and anticipated borrowing costs and this is shown as an expenditure item in the capital programme. The amount included is £1.632m.

12) Capital programme 2009/10 to 2010/12

12.1. The total amount available to fund starts in 2009/10 is £66.655m. Table 4 in paragraph 4.6 illustrates how this sum is arrived at.

12.2. On the basis of the position outlined above, the total value of the capital programmes submitted for consideration for the three years to 2011/12 are shown in Table 8.

Table 8

	Schemes within locally resourced guidelines	Additional schemes funded within the prudential framework	Schemes supported by Government grants/credit approvals	Total
	£m	£m	£m	£m
2009/10	0.088	0.000	66.567	66.655
2010/11	0.088	16.121	65.866	82.075
2011/12	0.088	0.000	39.527	39.615
Note:	The above figures are net of developers' contributions and exclude the costs of land for programme schemes which are dealt with outside the guidelines.

12.3. The proposed three year capital programme is attached as Appendix 1. The 2009/10 programme totals £66.655m and includes provision for contingency and furniture and equipment allocations. The total value of the capital programmes submitted for consideration for the three years to 2011/12 is shown in Table 9.

Table 9

	Children's Services £'m
2008/09 (current)	88.262
2009/10	66.655
2010/11	82.075
2011/12	39.615
Totals	188.345

12.4. There are no proposals for Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects. From 2005/06, all education PFI credits are being allocated through the BSF programme nationally.

13) 2010/11 to 2011/12 guidelines

13.1. As indicated above, it is possible to fund those schemes where starts need to be made in 2009/10. The indicative resources available in 2010/11 total £82.075m and are summarised in Table 10. This table assumes that the split between NDS suitability and condition funding is the same in 2010/11 as in 2008/09. The split is subject to Executive Members' decisions, so the totals may vary.

13.2. The Executive Lead Member for Children's Services approved a proposal for new special resourced provision for pupils with a severe Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) at Crofton School on 16 October 2008. It has been agreed that this will be funded from the Dedicated Schools Grant at a cost of £0.500m and will be brought into the 2010/11 cash limit at a future date.

Table 10

	2010/11
	£m
New Pupil Places supported borrowing	6.231
NDS Modernisation supported borrowing	0.524
Schools Access Initiative supported borrowing	2.447
Reduction in supported borrowing	-1.760
Proposed Prudential Borrowing	16.121
Schools' Devolved Capital grant	21.049
Primary Capital Programme grant	11.825
Sure Start capital grant	7.787
Extended Schools grant	1.049
NDS Modernisation grant	5.036
Targeted Capital grants	6.300
Youth Capital grant	0.514
Short breaks for families with disabled children	1.588
Corporate Resources	0.132
Reduction to carry forward to 2010/11	-0.044
Resources brought forward from 2008/09	1.987
Resources brought forward from 2009/10	1.289
Totals	82.075

14) Pressures on the capital programme

14.1. There are sufficient resources available to fund all the schemes which need to be started in 2009/10. The position for 2010/11 and following years, however, is difficult because of the combination of:

· the revenue "penalty" of taking up the full amounts of available credit approval; and

· the need to fund the cost of three new primary schools to serve major housing in 2010/11.

14.2. A significant amount of expenditure on projects to provide new pupil places is anticipated in 2010/11 and 2012/13, which will generate funding pressures. These are projects to provide new schools in major development areas and other areas of significant new housing. Table 11 gives an overview of the location of new primary schools and major extensions where starts on site are expected to be required in 2010/11 and 2011/12. The actual timing of these projects will depend upon the timing of planning consents for the residential development and the forecast rate of housing completions and Table 11 shows the best currently available information.

Table 11

Project	Extension/ new school	Expected start on site (subject to revision)
East Anton, Andover	New	2010/11
Picket Twenty, Andover	New	2010/11
West of Waterlooville MDA	New	2010/11
Aldershot Urban Extension	New	2012/13

14.3. The estimated average cost of a new one-form entry primary school is about £5.7m and of a one-form extension to an existing primary school about £3.5m. In broad terms, the estimated costs of the new primary school places where starts on site are likely to be required in 2010/11 and 2011/12 are about £21m, of which about 65% is expected to be available from developers' contributions. The remaining cost will need to be met from New Pupil Places allocations. The amount of new housing planned currently and that likely to proceed after 2012 suggests that significant pressure on New Pupil Places funding will continue for several years.

15) Revenue Implications

15.1. The revenue implications of the proposed capital programme are shown in Table 12.

Table 12

Schemes within the guidelines	Full Year Cost
	Current expenditure £m	Capital Charges £m
2009/10	0.000	1.119
2010/11	0.240	1.445
2011/12	0.000	0.691
Totals	0.240	3.255

15.2. The total revenue implications for the three years of the starts programme, including capital charges, represent a real term increase of 0.4% over the 2008/09 original budget of this service.

15.3. Since revenue expenditure on schools (which forms the vast majority of extra current expenditure caused by the capital programme) will effectively be fixed by central government from April 2006, the current expenditure will be absorbed within the Schools Budget.

16) Issues relating to the 2008/09 capital programme


Additional resources for the 2008/09 programme

16.1. Funding of £0.111m of capital grant for mobile technology to support children's social workers has been made available by the DCSF. This will enable the purchase of equipment such as laptops and personal digital assistants (PDAs) to help improve business processes, and so bring benefits including improved workload management and better use of time for children's social workers.


Projects proposed to be carried forward to 2009/10 and 2010/11

16.2. It will not be possible, mainly because of changes in the scope, brief or programming of projects, to start the schemes listed in Table 13 during 2008/09. It is proposed, therefore, to defer them, with their resources, to 2009/10 and 2010/11. The amounts shown in Table 13 are the contributions to project costs from the Children's Services capital programme along with the full estimated costs of schemes.

Table 13

Project	Project cost	Resources carried forward
Named projects	£m	£m
Andover Children's Centre	1.850	0.600
Bentley Primary School, Farnham	0.300	0.300
East Anton Primary School, Andover *	8.730	1.987
Roman Way Primary School, Andover	1.540	0.340
Stanmore Primary School, Winchester	0.450	0.450
Robert Mays Secondary School, Odiham	0.170	0.170
Hook Junior School	0.110	0.110
Wyvern Technology College, Fair Oak	0.125	0.125
Management of Falling Rolls	0.150	0.150
Staff Workforce	0.218	0.218
Schools Access Initiative	1.089	1.089
H&S Swimming Pools	0.563	0.563
Developers' contributions	0.290	0.290
AMP data provision	0.100	0.100
Targeted Capital Fund - falling rolls	0.344	0.344
Total	16.029	6.836

* carried forward to 2010/11.

16.3. £4.211m of carry forward was agreed in July 2008 and this is in addition to the amounts quoted above. In total, therefore, it is proposed to carry forward resources of £11.047m from 2008/09.

16.4. £0.290m of developer contributions, excluding those related to previous borrowing, have been received during 2008/09. It is recommended that this sum be added to the 2008/09 capital programme and carried forward to 2009/10 against specific projects to be identified.

16.5. Issues relating to individual projects proposed to be carried forward are set out in the following paragraphs.

16.6. In addition, £9.076m of proposed prudential borrowing relates to projects which were due to start in 2008/09. Partly due to the reduction in land values and uncertainties about the housing market, there is doubt about the value and timing of funding. It is therefore prudent not to assume this income and to recommend its removal from the 2008/09 cash limit.

16.7. It is, nevertheless, possible to proceed with the projects affected by the current economic climate. The largest single element of the £9.076m relates to the proposed new primary school in the East Anton development, Andover, which is recommended for deferral until 2010/11. The other affected projects are Andover Children's Centre, Abbotts Ann Primary School and Roman Way Primary School. These can be funded from within the 2009/10 cash limit, on the understanding that the anticipated receipts, when received, will be applied to the appropriate year's capital programme resources.

Andover Children's Centre

16.8. Additional funding has recently been secured to undertake the external recladding works. Now that the funding position has been resolved it is anticipated that work will commence in the summer term 2009.

Bentley Primary School, Farnham

16.9. This scheme to provide a new hall has been delayed due to issues with surface water drainage requiring a more detailed technical solution.

East Anton Primary School, Andover

16.10. Paragraph 6.1 refers to the downturn in the housing market which has had an impact on the timing of new schools. It is not now anticipated that the new school to serve East Anton will start until 2010/11.

Roman Way Primary School, Andover

16.11. The 2008/09 programme includes £1.540m for improvement works at this school. This scheme forms part of the review of primary school places for Andover and was approved by Cabinet on 24 July 2006. The capital strategy for this review was linked to the funding made available from the DCSF as a result of the County Council being a Pathfinder for the Primary Capital Programme. £0.340m of 2008/09 resources are proposed for carry forward. The proposed capital strategy for this project is shown in Table 7.

Stanmore Primary School, Winchester

16.12. Funding of £0.450m was identified from the 2008/09 programme to replace a dining hall which is housed in a temporary building in very poor condition. The DCSF have recently announced a bidding process to improve school dining facilities. This funding will be used to pump prime a bid to provide an enhanced project. Should this bid not be successful then a reduced scheme will be undertaken.

Robert Mays Secondary School, Odiham

16.13. The funding for this project is joint funded with the Football Foundation for which final confirmation of funding is expected shortly.

Hook Junior school

16.14. This project provides for a new hall, the final design specification has recently been completed and work is expected to start on site in April 2009.

Wyvern Technology College

16.15. A request was made by the school to defer works on this project to provide a J Track until April 2009.

Management of falling rolls

16.16. Three projects totalling £0.150m need to be carried forward to 2009/10. Detailed negotiations continue with headteachers with a view to works being undertaken in the 2009 summer holiday.

Staff workforce

16.17. Six projects totalling £0.218m are identified for carry forward. Detailed plans are currently being drawn up with works planned for the 2009 summer holiday period.

Schools Access Initiative

16.18. A total of £1.089m is proposed to be added to the 2009/10 programme to carry out adaptations to mainstream schools to meet the requirements of pupils with special needs. Projects identified against this funding are listed in Appendix 7.

H&S Swimming pools

16.19. £0.563m is recommended for carry forward. Detailed feasibility work is being undertaking and it is hoped to start some of these projects early in 2009.

Children's Centres Phase 2

16.20. Phase 2 of the Children's Centres programme is now substantially complete. The Andover Children's Centre project, referred to in paragraph 16.8, is recommended to be carried forward to 2009/10. Appendix 5 summarises the budgetary provision for the programme, funding sources and individual project costs.

Extended Schools

16.21. There is provision of £1.916m in the 2008/09 programme to provide extended schools facilities. This has been made available through specific capital grant. The `Schools of the Future - Design for Learning Communities' Building Bulletin 95' made the following statements about opening up schools to the community:-

`The boundaries between school and the outside world will be less clearly defined. The Government is encouraging schools to open up their buildings to a range of other users during the school day and beyond to develop as focal points for a whole range of family and community services. The degree to which group spaces are shared by the community will vary from school to school. Primary school spaces are less likely to be shared because of differences in furniture size - and instead - separate spaces designed for community use - adequately sized and flexible enough to accommodate a wide range of uses. `There is likely to be a range of other agencies sharing the school site - accommodation may range from an office within a school to separate but linked facilities such as a health unit or bank' As indicated in paragraph 4.4 (Table 3), there is continuing provision of £2.030m in the 2009/10 capital programme for extended schools facilities.

16.22. By 2010 the Government expects all school aged children and their families to be able to access at or through their local school a minimum range of services and activities. Known as the core offer these include:

· high quality 8am-6pm childcare provided on the school site or through other local providers

· a varied menu of activities, including study support - such as including homework clubs, sports, music tuition, arts and crafts,

· visits to museums, business and enterprise activities

· parenting support - including information sessions and family learning activities

· swift and easy referral to a wide range of specialist support services

· wider community access to school facilities - including ICT, sports and arts facilities and adult learning opportunities

16.23. Future development of school buildings and premises needs to be able to support this extended provision wherever practical, working with other partners and agencies to ensure that any identified joint services and activities can function effectively. At a minimum, consideration needs to be given to ensure that a flexible, multi-purpose, community/joint agency space is available on all extended school sites - both primary and secondary - with the following characteristics:

· welcoming, accessible and well signed.

· located near front of school - so that users do not have to travel through the school to reach it.

· available and secure all year round, daytime, evenings, weekends, holidays.

· exclusive use - not programmed for school use, unless agreed.

· sufficient parking - especially daytime, including cycles, wheelchairs, pushchairs.

· office/reception, kitchen and toilet facilities - not being used by the school or pupils.

· computer and telephone linked

· adequate storage for multi-agency use

Schools have been invited to submit investment proposals, which have been assessed against the criteria set out above. A list of projects is set out in Appendix 8. All of these are minor works and have been approved under delegated powers by the Director of Children's Services.

14-19 Exemplar bids to DCFS

16.24. The Department for Children, Schools and Families have made available £55m nationally to support exemplar capital bids for 14-19 projects. Bids were required to have been made by the consortia with support from the local authority to the DCFS by 31 December 2008. Projects need to be innovative and reflect collaborative working and are expected to be up to £5m in value. Funding will be made available to the local authority for any approved projects. Any schemes requiring the development of school buildings or land will be carefully considered to ensure they are both practical and achievable. Four bids were supported by the LA and endorsed by the 14-19 LA/LSC Capital Group and these have been submitted to the DCFS by the Consortia. The bids submitted were:

o East Hants Consortium - development of hospitality diploma facilities at Mill Chase school, estimated cost £0.6m.

o Fareham and Gosport Consortium - development of creative and media diploma facilities at Portchester school, estimated cost £5m

o Andover Consortium - development of creative and media diploma facilities at Harrow Way and John Hanson schools, estimated cost £4.8m.

o Eastleigh Consortium - development of hospitality diploma facilities acquiring interest in a property working with Eastleigh Borough Council, estimated cost £5m.

Targeted Capital Fund - surplus place removal

16.25. As indicated in paragraph 5.2 Targeted Capital Fund grant of £0.344m has been made available for the removal of surplus places and is recommended to be added to the 2008/09 cash limit. This funding is proposed to be allocated to projects at Cherrywood primary, Farnborough, Tower Hill Primary, Farnborough, Manor Infant, Farnborough, Ridgemede Junior, Bishops Waltham and Bursledon Junior Schools. As these projects are already included in the 2008/09 capital programme, the additional funding will free up resources for use as partnership funding on other surplus place removal projects covered by the grant in future years.

Schools Sustainable Travel Grant allocations 2008/09

16.26. The DCSF has made a fourth round of capital allocations to a number of schools which have School Travel Plans (STPs) authorised and in place by 31 March 2008. The grant is intended to help schools to support sustainable travel to school and DCFS expects the funding to be spent on measures identified in their STPs, such as secure cycle parking, lockers and bus bays. The grant is payable at the following rates:

· primary schools: £3,750 per school, plus £5 per pupil

· secondary schools: £5,000 per school, plus £5 per pupil

16.27. Grant is paid as an addition to schools devolved capital and the amount allocated to Hampshire in 2008/09 is £0.286m. A list of schools receiving the grant is shown in Appendix 3.

16.28. It is recommended that the sum of £0.286m is added to resources for schools' devolved capital allocations for 2008/09.

Action taken by the Director of Children's Services

16.29. Under delegated powers, and following consultation with the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services (Education) and Executive Member for Children and Families as appropriate, the action set out in Appendix 6 has been taken and it is recommended that formal approval is now given to the allocations listed.

17) Summary position for 2008/09

17.1. Resources totalling £88.262m have been allocated to the 2008/09 starts programme (after the amendments proposed in this report as shown in Appendix 2) Of this total, £57.712m relates to block allocations including schools' devolved formula capital, Surestart, Schools Access Initiative, furniture & equipment, and contingency, leaving £30.550m for specifically identified schemes.

18) Building cost inflation

18.1. The current economic climate is significantly impacting on the construction industry where the recession is now expected to be deeper than originally anticipated.

18.2. This is reflected in the anticipated inflation for building works where there is great uncertainty and volatility in the forecasts for tender prices. Published indices by Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR, formerly the DTI) indicate that there has been no increase in tender indices for the year from November 2007 to November 2008, around which the Capital Programme is based. This is a significant change to the average percentage increases over recent years of around 6%. This is still a prediction and the firm outcomes are uncertain in the current volatile market. The sectors worst hit over the next couple of years are Private Housing and Private Industrial and Commercial. However the Public non-housing Sector is expected to grow over the next three years assuming that the promised public funding is forthcoming. This and the impact of other major public expenditure projects such as the Olympics will continue to maintain some inflationary pressure on tender prices. BERR are forecasting that any fall in the tender price index will bottom out before 2009/10 and the index is forecast to rise from 2Q09 at about 3 - 4% per year.

18.3. Not withstanding the current economic climate, national building costs have increased significantly in the last five years. To help mitigate this, the Acting Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services continues to develop innovative procurement strategies that reduce risk and uncertainty for the contractors and, through a number of local and regional framework arrangements, secure the resources the County Council requires, whilst still retaining value for money and ensuring a high quality of product. It should be noted that capital allocations from the DCSF contain no provision for inflation.

19) Temporary classrooms

New temporary classroom requirements

Costello Technology College, Basingstoke

19.1. The Basingstoke 14-19 Consortium was successful through the 14-19 Gateway 2 approval process in achieving agreement to deliver from 2009 the Hair and Beauty and ICT diplomas. Costello Technology College was identified by the Consortium to house the accommodation for these diplomas. It is felt appropriate that a double temporary classroom is provided to accommodate the necessary facilities as the implications of Building Schools for the Future have yet to be established and any permanent facility needs to be considered in that context. Due to significant pressures on the capital programme there is no funding available to provide permanent facilities in the short term. The school is contributing to the cost of provision together with use of the 14-19 block vote in the 2009/10 capital programme and the 2009/10 revenue budget for temporary classrooms as appropriate.

19.2. 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 until 31 August 2013.

Calthorpe Park school, Fleet

19.3. Calthorpe Park School has a capacity of 1,050 places (PAN of 210) and a current number on roll of 985. Historically there has been a larger number of pupils within the school's catchment area than its Year 7 capacity. However as many pupils allocated places in the main admission round process at the two Fleet secondary schools have not taken up their place in September the actual numbers of pupils living in Fleet and attending the two Fleet secondary schools is less than the total number of places. Demand for Year 7 admissions in September 2008 was such that the school agreed to offer places to 240 pupils in Year 7; it finally admitted 225 pupils from the primary schools in Fleet. The Executive Lead Member for Children's Services (Education) agreed on 22 May 2008 to provide the school with a double temporary classroom to accommodate these additional pupils.

19.4. Due to the high number of pupils within the catchment area it is expected that the school will again be oversubscribed from within the catchment area. There are currently 487 Fleet based applications for the two secondary schools (Calthorpe Park and Court Moor PAN 220) and whilst there may be some drop-out, it is expected that there could be some 40 pupils who would not receive an offer of a place within the Fleet schools.

19.5. It is not felt appropriate to transport children to alternative schools and further discussions have been held with Calthorpe Park and agreement reached that the school would again agree to take above its PAN. Whilst it is not possible to be certain of the exact numbers it is felt appropriate to provide for the additional pupils expected with further temporary accommodation. It is important to provide additional teaching spaces, but there are also requirements to improve infrastructure as a result of the school increasing in size. The school has identified the need to increase the size of dining facilities, expand the hall and improve the changing facilities, all of which can be undertaken cost effectively by making small internal alterations. Undertaking some of these works will mean using existing teaching spaces and offices so additional temporary accommodation will be required to replace these lost spaces.

19.6. The provision of minor internal alterations and provision of additional temporary accommodation will allow the school to accommodate admissions above its PAN in 2009 and again if necessary in the immediate future. Further consideration will be given to accommodating the additional form of entry due to attend the school from Elvetham Heath Primary School in 2012. Further work will also be undertaken to assess the implications of proposed additional housing in Fleet at Hitches Lane and Queen Elizabeth Barracks and what educational response is needed. Developers' contributions will be sought to meet the capital costs of any additional provision required.

19.7. In order to meet the immediate impact it is recommended that up to £0.5m is made available from the 2009/10 capital programme to undertake internal alterations. Contributions will be sought from the school. In addition it is recommended that three double temporary classrooms are provided to meet the in-catchment demand for pupil places.

19.8. It is recommended that approval from the Executive Member for Policy and Resources is sought to submit a planning application for the siting of three double temporary classrooms until 31 August 2013.

Laverstoke Park Farm, Overton

19.9 Laverstoke Park Farm is committed to the production of fully organic produce. The owners of the farm wish to make the farm available to pupils so that they can learn about the complete process, from field to fork. Discussions have taken place to ascertain whether an education centre could be established on site. A suitable location has been identified, from where pupils will be able to reach all areas of the farm and study the processes involved in this type of farming.

19.10 It is recommended that a double temporary classroom be placed on site until 31 August 2013. for this purpose at a cost of approximately £150,000, to be funded from the 2008/09 capital programme contingency. Following the placing of this unit the owners of the farm will insure, repair and maintain the unit to an appropriate standard to allow pupils to access this environment.

20) Conclusion

20.1. This report sets out the proposed Children's Services capital programme for 2009/10 to 2011/12. This report has been prepared in consultation with the Executive Member and will be reviewed by the Children and Young People Select Committee. It will be reported to the Leader and Cabinet on 6 February 2009 to make final recommendations to County Council on 19 February 2009.

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