The report details the outcome of the consultation on the proposed Policy Principles for Pupil Place Planning and outlines the annual refresh of the rolling five year investment programme in new school places.

The Executive Member introduced this report, which provided the Committee with details of the outcome of the consultation on the proposed Policy Principles for Pupil Place Planning in Schools. The report also outlined the annual refresh of the Council’s rolling five year investment programme in new school places to fulfil the Council's statutory duty regarding sufficiency of school places and to implement the identified need in the previously published school organisation plan.

The Executive Member drew the Committee’s attention in particular to the consultation responses contained within Appendix B (circulated at the meeting), which generally indicated strong support for most of the principles although there had been a mixed response regarding principles 3, 5, 8 and 9. With regard to principle 8, the Executive Member reiterated his strong support of the Council’s ambition to encourage a diversity of education provision including faith based provision, which was currently lower than national rates of representation.

The Head of School Organisation and Capital Planning went on to explain in further detail the process and programme for new school places and referred Members in particular to Appendix C of the report, which set out a summary of the indicative programme of major schemes for new school places that were to be commissioned and constructed in the period 2012/13 to 2018/19.

The Head of School Organisation and Capital Planning also explained that a further report would be presented to the Committee at its February meeting, which would provide more detailed proposals for new places in September 2014, evaluated against the new Policy Principles if adopted by the Executive.

Members of the Committee discussed the content of the report in detail and raised the following issues:-

·        The challenges of encouraging the establishment of school federations particularly when Ofsted continued to insist on separate inspections for individual schools within such federations;

·        The importance of ensuring this Committee reviewed the impact and achievement of the Policy Principles after an appropriate implementation period, which the Executive Member was happy to endorse;

·        The viability, in particular, of lower schools in a changing educational landscape. The Executive Member reiterated his view that no lower school would close although some may need for example to reconfigure and collaborate as part of federations;

·        The impact of cross border pupil flow and school catchment areas;

·        The difficulty of adhering to Policy Principles in practice, with some Members expressing concern about the need for local flexibility and opportunities for parental choice. The Executive Member acknowledged the issue and confirmed that the principles should not be seen as edicts but rather operational guidelines;

·        The sufficiency of places for children with Special Educational Needs in either special or mainstream schools. The Executive Member confirmed that the provision of such places would continue to be a priority within the School Organisation Plan; and

·        The ability of the Council to use S106 monies flexibly to met demand across Central Bedfordshire.

RECOMMENDATION:

That the Policy Principles for Pupil Place Planning in Schools, as set out in Appendix B, be endorsed for approval by the Executive as the basis for the future development of commissioning options for New School Places in Central Bedfordshire.