Archived decisions

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Decision Report

1) Executive Summary

1.1. The purpose of this report is to set out proposed changes to the 2009/10 capital programme.

1.2. 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.

2) Contextual Information

Carry forward from 2008/09

2.1. A total of £27.74m of 2008/09 resources (£26.024m was carried forward in 2007/08) was unspent at the end of the financial year (see appendix 1), excluding resources and projects carried forward when the 2009/10 capital programme was approved in January 2009.

2.2. Of the £27.74m of resources to be carried forward to 2009/10, £11.7m relates to provision in block votes rather than for specific projects. The largest single component of this carry forward is provision for early years private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector initiatives (£5m) for which projects for prioritisation are recommended in this report. Of the remaining carry forward amounts relating to block votes, it is proposed to add these to the block votes for similar provision in the 2009/10 programme. There are total available resources of £28.809m (including a £1.069m contingency) which will be used in 2009/10 against identified projects.

2.3. Taking into account changes since the 2009/10 programme was produced in January (including those proposed in this report) the revised limit for the programme is made up as shown in Table 1.

Table 1

	£'m
Original starts programme	66.655
Projects carried forward (not included in original cash limit)	27.740
Contingency	1.069
Borrowing not taken up (Basingstoke School Plus)	- 0.195
Crofton ASD provision	0.430
Specialist schools funding	0.300
Wildern School Theatre, Hedge End	3.800
Co-location funding	6.485
Capital for kitchens and dining facilities	0.625
Total	106.909

2.4. The revised capital programme for 2009/10 is submitted for approval at Appendix 2.

2.5. Table 1 refers to a total of £27.74m of projects to be carried forward from 2008/09 to 2009/10. The major components of the carry forward are £9.0m for Early Years PVI Grant and Phase 3 Children's Centres, £6.7m for Hamble Community Sports College and £4m for Abbotts Ann Primary School, Andover.

2.6. In addition to the carry forward referred to in paragraph 2.5, there were other carry forwards, the effects of which were included in the original 2009/10 capital programme:

· £4.211m was carried forward from 2008/09 to 2009/10 in July 2008 (to support planned, but underfunded, new primary schools in Andover and Waterlooville)

· £4.849m was carried forward from 2008/09 to 2009/10 in January 2009

· £1.987m was carried forward from 2008/09 to 2010/11 in January 2009 and

· £1.289m was carried forward from 2009/10 to 2010/11 in January 2009.

2.7. The projects carried forward to 2009/10 in January 2009 were:

Table 2

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
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	7.299	4.849

3) Amendments to the 2008/09 capital programme

Hamble Community Sports College

3.1. The 2008/09 capital programme included a £6.837m project at Hamble Community Sports College. This is to be funded by Learning and Skills Council (LSC) on an actuals cost basis, up to a maximum of £6.837m. The total cost of the project is now estimated at £6.735m. The revised 2008/09 cash limit has therefore, been reduced by £102,000.

Fareham Western Wards primary schools

3.2. The 2008/09 capital programme included a sum of £1.361m for improvements to Fareham Western Wards primary schools. In March 2008 £0.471m was earmarked for Sarisbury Junior School, with the balance of £0.890m to be used to support other schools in the area. During the year projects were started at Sarisbury Infant School and Park Gate Primary School and a total of £0.729m was approved on 23 January 2008. It is recommended that the remaining balance of £0.161m is allocated to Locks Heath Infant and Junior Schools as a contribution towards the replacement of their temporary accommodation.

Youth Capital Fund

3.3. An application has been received from the Girl Guide Association for support for a project at Wickham seeking a grant towards the cost of providing residential accommodation for young people at Sandy Acres Campsite. This facility will be available for young people countywide and not only for Girl Guides The total cost of the project is £0.350m and the grant requested is £0.294m. The remaining funding is being provided by funds raised by the committee. An initial contribution of £0.150m was earmarked for approval from the 2008/09 Youth Capital Fund provision with the intention of making a further contribution in 2009/10. However slippage on other projects now allows the full amount of the grant requested to be allocated. This expenditure has been counted against the 2008/09 budget provision.

Extended schools

3.4. There is provision of £1.916m in the 2008/09 programme to provide extended schools facilities. Projects totalling £0.416m started in 2008/09 and details are given in Appendix 6A. The remaining £1.5m is recommended to be carried forward to 2009/10.

4) Amendments to the 2009/10 capital programme

Early Years and Childcare capital (Private, Voluntary and Independent (PVI) grant)

4.1. As reported on 22 May 2008 a total of £15.135m additional capital grant is available over three years from 2008/09 to 2010/11 as part of the Sure Start Early Years and Childcare Grant (SSEYCG) to support the delivery of the Government's strategy for childcare. Investment should focus on:

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

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

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

4.2. All Hampshire's childcare settings, private, voluntary and independent, were invited to bid for this capital funding in December 2008. 566 applications were received totalling in excess of £23 million. The Early Years Education & Childcare Unit (EECU), through their local development teams, analysed the submissions and used 17 criteria to prioritise them against the DCSF requirements and Hampshire's childcare sufficiency assessment.

4.3. A PVI Capital Grants Group, comprising officers from the Children's Services, Chief Executive's and Property, Business and Regulatory Services departments considered all bids rated as high priority. As a result of this consideration, the following high priority schemes are recommended:

· 140 grants for individual projects with a value below £5,000 to childcare settings across Hampshire, including 51 childminders. The total amount of these allocations is £491,398.

· 113 allocations for projects of more than £5,000. The total amount of these allocations is £13,271,345.

· a planned programme specific contingency of £0.8m and provision for administrative, assessment and management costs of £0.425m. This charge reflects the overhead of administering a large number of relatively small allocations, many of which are grants requiring legal input and which do not generate professional fees in the normal way.

A full list of recommended projects is included at Appendix 11.

4.4. Further to our experience of the implementation of the Phase 2 Children's Centre programme it is proposed that these projects will be grouped where possible for design and procurement by project and construction types. A mixed economy of traditional building and pre-fabricated framed construction projects is being proposed to ensure the most effective use of the capital funding available for this specific initiative for childcare settings and to maintain quality control and secure efficiency in the building programme.

4.5. In respect of the cases where new detached buildings are to be constructed on County Council owned sites, primarily schools, Property Services will procure the new structures using the grant funding thus avoiding any issues related to third parties undertaking construction activities on operational school sites and ensuring standards and quality of the completed facilities are acceptable and suitably robust.

4.6. It is proposed that the new facility will be leased to the occupying group on a fully repairing and insuring basis for a term of 25 years, thereby avoiding direct repairing responsibility for the County Council. To assist these new settings to become established and viable, and reflecting the occupying group's position in attracting the grant funding to build the facility, the initial rent will be low based on the rental value of the site only. However the lease will include reviews in rent that will be based on the actual operating accounts of each occupier, thereby sharing in the anticipated future success of these settings (as is already done with other similar pre-school lettings). These new projects will provide considerable improvement to current facilities with consequent expected enhanced service demand and quality. The lease will also include enforceable obligations on service provision quality thresholds which will be monitored by Children's Services.

4.7. The risk to the County Council will be of any group defaulting in respect of their lease obligations, particularly financial or repairing. However, each project will be selected having regard to care needs in the area and evidence of satisfactory business planning including ability to meet future obligations such as building maintenance. As such, the chance of groups failing, particularly with ongoing support from Children's Services Early Education and Childcare Unit, is minimised. The County Council will remain able to pursue forfeiture of the lease in any case of significant default and will be then able to re-let the facility to another approved provider.

Fees to Progress Land Sales

4.8. The 2008/09 capital programme included £150,000 in respect of consultants fees to support the progress of a range of land sales. A large programme of "investment" feasibility and planning application work was carried out in 2008/09 and this will continue into 2009/10 to ensure that a programme of sites is ready to respond to the anticipated market recovery.

4.9. It is recommended therefore that £60,000 be transferred from the contingency to cover a shortfall in 2008/09 and provide modest additional funds for the current financial year. The budget for 2009/10 is £210,000.

Schools Access Initiative

4.10. In January 2009 £1.089m was carried forward to 2009/10. Since then a further carry forward from 2008/09 of £67,000 has arisen as a result of slippage in the project at Arnewood School, New Milton and under- spending at Noadswood School, Dibden Purlieu. It is recommended that this amount is added to the funding for Schools Access Initiative in the 2009/10 programme. Proposals for specific projects are at appendix 3.

Youth Capital Fund

4.11. Appendix 4 lists those projects recommended for support through the Youth Capital Fund in 2009/10, totalling £0.368m. Work is in hand to identify priority projects to be funded from the remaining £0.146m in 2009/10 and £0.514m in 2010/11.

New Specialist Schools

4.12. Three schools (The Burgate, Fordingbridge; Everest College, Basingstoke and Oak Lodge, Dibden Purlieu) have achieved specialist status and will receive a one-off capital grant of £100,000 each from the DCSF. It is recommended that the total of £300,000 is added to 2009/10 capital programme.

Wildern School theatre

4.13. This project has been developed with Eastleigh Borough Council, to provide a 300 seat theatre on the Wildern School and adjoining Shamblehurst Primary School sites, Hedge End. The facility will increase arts provision in the area and is funded by Eastleigh Borough Council (£3.2m), Hedge End Town Council (£0.3m) and Wildern School (£0.3m), a total of £3.8m. The Director of Property. Business and Regulatory Services is leading on the design, procurement and delivery of the project.

4.14. It is proposed that the theatre will be an extension of the existing D@rt performing arts building on the Wildern site. It will benefit from use of the existing foyer, box office, practice spaces, toilets and changing areas as well as the boiler plant. Whilst external funding of £3.8m from Eastleigh Borough Council, Hedge End Town Council and Wildern School has been secured, a successful bid of £0.7m has also been made to the Cross Government Co-location Fund through the Department for Children, Schools and Families (see paragraph 4.23).

Children's Centres Phase 3

4.15. Following approval by the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services (Education) on 16 October 2008, that a further 25 Children's Centres would be developed across Hampshire as part of the Sure Start Local Programme, work has been on-going to identify suitable sites for investment and development. An initial desktop exercise highlighted some 100 possible development locations which, following individual site visits and, where appropriate, architectural feasibility studies, has been reduced to 25 preferred locations.

4.16. Detailed planning work has now commenced on these locations to secure them as children's centre sites and to develop initial design work into planning applications and on through to procurement, construction and practical completion. Appendix 5 (which is confidential as it includes provisional sites still to be agreed) lists the preferred site locations. In order to ensure the most efficient use of the capital funding available over the three years (2008/09 to 2010/11) to this programme (£9,643,872) projects will grouped according to type and geographical location. These groups will then be tendered either through the County Council's procurement framework or traditionally to ensure best value.

4.17. It is anticipated that, subject to approval, the first schemes (smaller projects with a construction time of 8-16 weeks) could reach completion by autumn 2009 with all schemes completed by December 2010. This fits within the funding structure set out by the DCSF that requires all projects to be completed by the end of March 2011.

4.18. Approval is sought to progress the feasibility work and finalise costings to ensure that delivery will be within budget. On previous phases of the Children's Centres programme there was significant additional assessment and design work required at the feasibility stage to identify and negotiate appropriate locations, site options and costs. It was agreed that this work sat outside of the agreed scope of the 16.5% allocation for professional fees on projects and a separate sum was identified and funded from the Children's Services capital programme for this additional work. It has been identified that additional feasibility work up to the value of £0.250m is similarly required for the Phase 3 Children's Centres programme and it is proposed that this additional work is to be funded from this year's Children's Services capital programme.

Children's Centres Phase 2

4.19. An updated position statement for Phase 2 Children's Centres is set out at appendix 9. The final centre from this phase, Spring Meadow Children's Centre in Andover, is on site and due for completion by late February 2010.

Extended Schools

4.20. There is provision of £3.53m in the 2009/10 programme, including £1.5m carried forward from 2008/09 (see paragraph 3.4) to provide extended schools facilities. Approval is sought for allocations totalling £3.53m for the projects listed in Appendix 6B.

Projects to be funded from developers' contributions

4.21. A total of £0.270m is in the 2009/10 programme reported on 21 January 2009 for developers' contributions received and to be applied to projects at specific schools serving new housing developments. A total of £0.214m contributions have been received in respect of Chase Road, Linford (£0.111m previously reported in January 2009). A contribution of £0.071m each is planned towards projects at three schools (Weyford Infant, Weyford Junior and Mill Chase School). Detailed spending plans have been agreed with all schools. In addition developers contributions have been received of £0.091m (previously reported) in respect of Winchester Road, Four Marks and this is proposed to be used as a contribution towards an extension scheme at Four Marks Primary.

4.22. The programme for 2009/10 reported in January 2009 schemes already planned at Weyford Infant and Junior, Bordon (£0.111m) and Oakridge Infant and Junior, Basingstoke (£0.068m). Funding has been received and added to the programme as shown in Table 3.

Table 3

Co-location Funding

4.23. Five bids totalling £12.4m have been submitted to the DCSF's national Co-location Capital Fund (£200m) seeking a contribution towards the following projects and have been successful:

· Havant Public Service Village (£5.1m) - offering a new model for the delivery of integrated public and voluntary services.

· Park Community School, Havant (£0.255m) - a community facility to deliver community and health provision for Leigh Park.

· The Bridge Education Centre, Eastleigh (£0.430m) - co-location of CAMHS and Education Centre on one site. This is a major project in the current year's programme and work has already commenced on site. A condition of grant is that the allocation is contributed to the Park Community School project.

· Wildern School, Hedge End (£0.700m) - creation of a 300+ seat flexible studio theatre. This project is part of the proposed 2009/10 programme and referred to in paragraphs 4.13 and 4.14 above. The co-location allocation allows for specialist performance lighting, sound and stage equipment to be included as part of project.

· Runways End Youth Adventure Centre, Farnborough (£5.9m) - a modern youth adventure centre, which will include a drop in youth centre, residential accommodation and office/meeting space for a wide range of support services who will benefit from co-located working. (Communities, Culture and Rural Affairs programme]

4.24. Prior to any of the above projects proceeding, the revenue effects on Children's Services and other County Council budgets will need to be identified and resolved. In particular, proper agreements with reference to joint funding of revenue costs will need to be in place.

Block Votes

4.25. Details of allocations made for a number of block votes are shown in the appendices where decisions on priorities for individual projects have been approved by the Director of Children's Services under delegated authority. and are reported here for information in the following paragraphs

14-19 projects

4.26. Ten schemes have been agreed by the Director of Children's Services under delegated approval and work is progressing; details are shown at Appendix 14. A number of other projects are under consideration for approval and will be reported at a future meeting.

Workforce provision

4.27. Details of five projects in the 2009/10 programme allocated £0.150m are shown at Appendix 8. Projects brought forward from 2008/09, previously reported in July 2008 and January 2009 (a total of £0.229m), contribute to the total programmed sum of £0.379m.

4.28. A total of eight projects were originally carried forward from 2008/09 with an allocation of £0.218m. Projects have been started at Grange Infant School, Gosport, Glenwood School, Emsworth and Horndean Infant school allowing a further £0.011m to be carried forward to complete a further scheme at Tavistock Infant, Fleet.

Management of Falling Rolls

4.29. The 2009/10 programme includes provision of £0.890m including £0.700m of Targeted Capital Funding and £0.190m carried forward from 2008/09 relating to schemes funded from within the capital programme. Appendix 17 details a list of proposed projects.

Health and Safety and swimming pools

4.30. Planned expenditure from the 2009/10 Health and Safety and Swimming Pools budgets is shown in table 4:

Table 4

Expenditure	£'000
Swimming Pools (including carry forward)	1,000
Hot surfaces (schemes listed appendix 15)	40
Structural fire precautions (schemes listed in appendix 16)	110
Medstead Primary School drainage scheme	50
Currently unallocated	25
Total	1,225

4.31. Planned swimming pool investment projects totalling £1.0m are shown at Appendix 10. Match funding from the Policy and Resources and Children's Services capital programmes are the main funding sources, along with school contributions. The criteria used to determine the choice of projects include the number of Key Stage 2 schools using the pool, the distance to an alternative facility (within five miles) and a priority on support to indoor pools.

Disabled Children's Grant

4.32. Funding is available for 2009/10 (£0.681m) and 2010/11 (£1.588m). Details of planned projects are detailed in Appendix 12.

Kitchen and Dining facilities

4.33. Funding is available of £624,797 in 2009/10 targeted at increasing school meals uptake. A bidding process was undertaken and allocations to schools are set out in Appendix 19.

Computer Aided Design (CAD), Suitability, Sufficiency and Asset Management and Planning System

4.34. On 16 October 2008, the Executive Member for Policy and Resources approved a proposal to procure a Computer Aided Design (CAD), Suitability, Sufficiency and Asset Management and Planning System. An external supplier will be required to undertake surveys to complete data collection (embedded into CAD files) inclusive of suitability and sufficiency data for all school sites where this is not available. Since October, these proposals have been developed and expanded to meet the anticipated requirements for improved data to support Building Schools for the Future (BSF) and Primary Capital Programme (PCP) which will include collection of suitability and sufficiency data on school sites. It is also now proposed to maximise the accessibility and efficient use of collected data by procuring an Asset Management System (AMS).

4.35. It is proposed to procure a modular AMS through an OJEU tender process which allows progressive purchase, development and implementation of modules to meet the County Council's requirements. This is a jointly developed and funded project between Property Services and Children's Services.

Asset Management System (AMS)

4.36. The Director of Property and the Director of Children's Services currently hold both electronic and paper records of school buildings in a number of separate data bases and storage systems. It is proposed to invest in a single information technology `platform' that will enable suitability, sufficiency and condition data to be held on school buildings in one repository. Technology has progressed significantly in recent years enabling data to be stored using a `Geographical Information' basis; this has a number of advantages:

· Accurate surveys in an electronic format are used as a reference point for all data

· Information on floor area, condition and a range of other essential criteria can be stored in one common integrated way.

· Reports can easily be produced on any buildings in any school that have been surveyed quickly and in a co-ordinated way.

4.37. An investment in this technology requires a significant financial commitment. The majority of the cost is in surveying every building and entering the base data (around £1 million over three years) given the significant extent of our school estate (550 schools). Now is an opportune time to start this process given that the pressure on public finances nationally and reducing availability of New Deal for Schools and other grants will only make such investment more difficult in future years.

4.38. There are a number of current drivers which make the investment in an Asset Management System appropriate:

· Central Government is requiring all authorities to improve their asset management in relation to buildings and their estate. The Audit Commission has recently published a report entitled `Room for Improvement' which states that asset management will become an even greater focus in authorities' performance assessments.

· The Director of Property has committed to provide CAD plans for all schools in the life of this current SLA (2012).

· With the imminent decision on possible entry to the BSF Programme in Hampshire by PfS, the targeted investment in the secondary school estate will provide funds to refurbish and replace buildings.

· Not only is the County looking to maximise its assets and improve efficiency in schools, we are embarking on a major programme of office rationalisation (Hampshire Workstyle) and this integrated system could equally be rolled out here.

4.39. The benefits of investment in an AMS are:

· A tool to assess the efficiency and suitability of school buildings, including capacity assessments and curriculum space needs analysis.

· Priority investment targeted where there is greatest need and opportunity to release under-used accommodation.

· Recognition from central government that HCC is leading on asset management and `ticks the box' when frequently bidding for grants.

· More efficient process in data capture and reporting leading to significant time savings by streamlining data entry; avoiding peaks in resource requirement for cyclical surveys; new projects will require less investment in survey and data gathering in order to complete feasibility work.

· Updates of future survey information will be quicker and less costly.

4.40. In summary, the AMS proposal is an `invest to save' type strategy that will quickly raise the standard and accuracy of performance data on school buildings and enable reduction in revenue costs over future years. It is proposed to undertake an initial investment in this financial year of £300k, split 50/50 between Policy and Resources Landlord budgets and Children's Services Capital Programme.

4.41. Further reports will be made available to the Executive Member Policy and Resources and Executive Member Children's Services as the system is rolled out and business planning benefits are identified in more detail.

5) Prudential borrowing

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

5.1 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.

5.2 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.

5.3 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.

5.4 For schemes starting in 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07,2007/08 and 2008/09 £40.720m is expected to be borrowed through the Prudential Code; £20.739m of this amount has been repaid to date, with the rest due for repayment when market conditions for the sale of land improve. The extent to which the market will recover is unclear at this stage and the scope for fully repaying the loans raised to date will be monitored.

5.5 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 18.

5.6 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.

6) Action taken by the Director of Children's Services

6.1. Under delegated powers, and following consultation with the relevant Executive Member, approval has been given to a number of items below £0.250m. These are listed in full in Appendix 13 and it is recommended that formal approval is now given to the allocations listed.

7) Temporary classrooms

New temporary classrooms

7.1. Bransgore Primary - it is proposed to relocate the School Centred Initial Teacher Training team (SCITT) to the school site, as the headteacher is managing the programme. This is a regional facility providing support, training and guidance to trainee teachers. In order to provide the necessary additional accommodation it is recommended that a temporary unit be placed on the site until August 2014. This is an externally funded project with no costs falling on the County Council.

7.2. 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 unit until 31 August 2014.

7.3. Rachel Madocks School, Cowplain - it is proposed to site a single unit to cater for post 16 provision to meet capacity needs over the next two years.

7.4. 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 single unit until 31 August 2011.

Temporary classroom planning renewals

7.5. There are a number of temporary buildings where planning permission needs to be renewed. For some of these buildings arrangements are in place for eventual replacement with permanent accommodation. Others are meeting a current demand for places, but longer term forecasts suggest that permanent places will not be required in the future because of falling school rolls. These cases are being kept under close review. Detailed information about the schools, together with an explanation of the reasons for their retention can be found in Appendix 7.

7.6. It is recommended that approval from the Executive Member for Policy and Resources is sought for planning renewals until 31 August 2014 for the temporary buildings listed in Appendix 7.

8) Corporate priorities

8.1. 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.

8.2. It also supports the following outcomes of the Children Act which 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.

9) Recommendations

It is recommended that:

9.1. The revised 2009/10 capital programme set out in Appendix 2 be approved.

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

· Hamble Community Sports College £0.102m

· Fareham Western Wards primary schools £0.161m

· Sandy Acres, Wickham grant to Girl Guide Association of £0.294m .

9.3. It is recommended that the 2009/10 capital programme has:

· £3.8m added in respect of the externally funded theatre scheme at Wildern School, Hedge End

· £0.3m added in respect of specialist schools one off funding

· £28.809m added in respect of carry forwards from 2008/09 and

· £0.195m reduction in respect of borrowing which is now not to be used

· £6.485m added in respect of successful bids to DCSF for Cross Government Co-location funding

· £0.625m added in respect of kitchen and dining facilities.

9.4. Early Years and Childcare capital grant (PVI) - approval be given to the list of proposed projects as shown in appendix 11 and in the values as reported in paragraph 4.3.

9.5. A contribution of £60,000 from contingency towards fees to progress land sales.

9.6. That the Schools Access Initiative projects for 2009/10 be approved as set out in Appendix 3.

9.7. That the Youth Capital Fund projects for 2009/10 be approved as set out in Appendix 4.

9.8. Approval is sought to progress the feasibility work and finalise costings for Children's Centres Phase 3 projects to ensure that delivery will be within timescales and budget.

9.9. That the Extended Schools projects for 2009/10 be approved (including those carried forward from 2008/09) as set out in Appendices 6A and 6B.

9.10. That the use of Block Votes as set out in paragraphs 4.25 to 4.33 and the seven projects approved under delegated powers by the Director of Children's Services in Appendix 13 are formally approved.

9.11. New temporary classrooms - approval is recommended for the following projects:

a) Bransgore, Primary, SCITT (School Centred Initial Teacher Training) - it is recommended that approval from Executive Member for Policy and Resources is sought to submit a planning application for the siting of a temporary unit until August 2014.

b) Rachel Madocks, Cowplain - it is recommended that approval from Executive Member for Policy and Resources is sought to submit a planning application for the siting of a temporary until August 2011.

9.12. Temporary classrooms - approval be given for the application of planning renewals until 31 August 2014 (unless otherwise stated), for temporary classrooms to be located on the following sites:

a) Dove House Special School, Basingstoke - double classroom

b) Forest Education Centre, Dibden Purlieu - single classroom

c) Hiltingbury Junior, Chandlers Ford - single classroom

d) Kings Furlong Infant, Basingstoke - single classroom

e) Lord Wilson Special, Sarisbury Green - single classroom

f) Netley Abbey Junior, Southampton - double classroom

g) Petersfield Infant - single classroom and toilet

h) Rownhams Primary, Southampton - single classroom

i) Tadley Primary - single classroom

j) The Crescent Primary, Eastleigh - triple classroom

k) Wallop Primary - nursery/playgroup: single classroom

l) Westfield Junior, Yateley - single classroom and toilets

m) Wildern Secondary, Hedge End - double classroom

n) Yateley Secondary - single classroom

CORPORATE OR LEGAL INFORMATION:

Links to the Corporate Strategy

NB: If the `Other significant links' section below is not applicable, please delete it.

Other Significant Links

IMPACT ASSESSMENTS:

Equalities Impact Assessment:

Equality and diversity objectives are not considered to be adversely affected by the proposals of this report.

Impact on Crime and Disorder:

Crime and disorder objectives are not considered to be adversely affected by the proposals of this report.

Climate Change:

a) How does what is being proposed impact on our carbon footprint / energy consumption?

When the Children's Services Capital Programme invests in new build, replacement or refurbishment works, Property Services colleagues include an assessment of reductions in energy consumption (carbon use) in the design. In all new buildings and in the majority of refurbishment type investments, the latest technologies and materials are specified in order to maximise the impact on reducing carbon consumption. Many projects are also able to employ passive design approaches including natural ventilation and improved insulation to actively reduce consumption in summer and winter conditions.

b) How does what is being proposed consider the need to adapt to climate change, and be resilient to its longer term impacts?

The proposals seek to provide compact and energy-efficient building envelopes. Any new build or extensions will meet current building regulations standards for thermal performance. Where possible, appropriate sustainable materials will be employed to reduce the environmental impact of the proposals.