Agenda item

To receive and consider for approval the Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent 2017-21  

(Item 7 – Report of Mr Roger Gough, Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform and Patrick Leeson, Corporate Director for Education and Young People's Services).

Cabinet received a report on the Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent 2017-21.  

Mr Roger Gough, Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform, introduced the item for members. In particular he referred to the following:

• The plan had been the subject of a County-wide consultation
• The plan looked to find ways to provide places for the rapidly increasing numbers of school children
• The anticipated demand for 23,000 additional school places by 2023 (85 FE for primary, 79 FE for secondary schools) which would include 5% spare capacity to allow for greater parental choice
• The financing of the plan through Government grant for basic need and developer contributions
• The excellent cooperation from Kent schools in supporting the programme
• The impact of the free school programme which added complexities and uncertainties to planning
• Forecasting and monitoring that forecasting was critical to ensure that the long term planning was accurate
• Delivering the necessary building programmes efficiently was vital including securing adequate developer contributions
• Seeking consent from Government to apply maximum flexibility in terms of the free school programme and the interaction between basic need funding and the free school programme

Patrick Leeson, Corporate Director for Education and Young People's Services, emphasised the following points:

• This ongoing programme had been very successful not only in delivering overall numbers of places but also in continuing to provide good quality school places in every locality in Kent
• The fact that this programme would not be possible without the support and cooperation of Kent schools which had been exemplary
• That the authority was approaching tipping point in respect of delivery alongside the free schools programme, some of which schools were a year behind programme which could potentially jeopardise the ability to meet the statutory responsibility
• Challenges in terms of finding new sites and sponsors for secondary schools

In response to questions from Cabinet Members, Mr Roger Gough, Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform, made the following comments:

• Agreeing that in the light of the size and scale of future provision it was likely that the expansion of existing schools would not be sufficient and that therefore the Authority would need to speak to various partners, including district councils, to secure timely planning approvals
• Noting that the provision of special schools and other specialist provision had been a success
• Noting that prudential borrowing had been an effective method of funding new school building in the past but which was not longer available.  Further noting that the Authority was left with the burden of the interest payments from past prudential borrowing even where the school had transferred to academy status.

It was RESOLVED: