Agenda item

This report is provided to the Cabinet Committee annually and sets out for Members the progress made in implementing the Kent Commissioning Plan for Education in delivering the necessary schools places for Kent and other provision for SEN, Early years and post 16 education and training.

(1)       Mr Gough (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education) said that the commissioning plan for education was one of the most important items considered by this Cabinet Committee and he drew Members’ attention, in particular, to pages 57-59 of the report (in the agenda pack).

(2)       Mr Leeson (Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education) introduced the report which set out progress made in implementing the Kent Commissioning Plan for Education in delivering schools’ places, SEN provision as well as post-16 education and training.  He said places had been provided for all children for September 2017 with 86% of parents of primary school age children and 84% of parents of secondary school age children receiving their first or second choice of school. He said success in forecasting roll numbers required significant planning, forecasting, working with Property Services and persuading schools to expand in areas of high demand.  He also referred to the uncertain climate in which forecasting had to be done and the increasingly complex government funding and support available to schools and local authorities.  He said local authorities had a statutory responsibility to provide places but many decisions were taken by schools and others and were outside the control of the local authority.

(3)       Mr Abbott (Director of Education Planning and Access) said the commissioning plan was published annually in the autumn and forecasted demand for five years. In the last four years 10,000 additional school places had been provided and the point was now being reached where existing schools could not expand further and new schools would be required to meet demand for places.  These new schools would require sponsors.

(4)       Mr Adams (Area Education Officer) said that places for September 2017 had been delivered broadly in accordance with the plan including 800 places in the specialist education sector.  The forecast aimed to be accurate to plus/minus 1% (which was considered an excellent standard nationally); however the report also provided information about the accuracy of forecasting by primary and secondary level schools and by area.  The current surplus places at secondary level were expected to disappear as the demand for secondary school places increased. 

(5)       In response to Members’ questions, Mr Adams said the capacity of schools in Dartford to expand further was extremely limited and pressure on places arose from migration into the town and an increase in new housing development.

(6)       Mr Nehra (Area Education Officer – West Kent), provided additional information about the pressure on places in Maidstone including the impact of new housing development at Lenham. He also said that a new free school near Junction 7 of the M20 was being planned.

(7)       Mr Abbott undertook to talk to Mrs Cole about the particular issues in Dartford outside the meeting.  He explained that a number of free school projects across the county that had been factored into the commissioning plan were now unlikely to come forward and those that did come forward were unlikely to do so in the required timescales which in turn generated significant budgetary pressures.  He said the authority had raised concerns with the ESFA about: funding; the delivery of building projects; the revised policy in relation to future projects; the implications of Wave 12 announcements; and the delay of Wave 13.  He also said that where sponsors were not selected by the ESFA, the onus would be on the local authority to run a competition outside of the Wave process and this would take at least eight months.

(8)       In response to a question about SEN provision, Mr Leeson said the SEND Strategy would be considered by Cabinet on 26 June 2017. The revised strategy included the provision of specialist places within mainstream schools as well as increasing places in specialist schools; however increasing demand for places was contributing to increasing costs of transport.  Mr Leeson said the transport costs were reviewed monthly and that a report could be presented to the Cabinet Committee in the autumn.

(9)       Mr Adam and Mrs White (Area Education Officer – East Kent) provided some additional information about the school places in Dover and Canterbury respectively.

(10)     Resolved that the progress achieved and the issues identified for further development be noted.