Cabinet Member decisions

Proposed decision:

1.    To expand Palmarsh Primary School to 1FE;

2.    To authorise the Director Infrastructure in consultation  with the Interim General Council to enter into any necessary contracts/ agreements on behalf of the County Council;

3.    To authorise the Director Infrastructure to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts. Variations to contract value to be no more than 10% above the capital funding agreed by the Cabinet Member without requiring a new Record Of Decision: and

4.    To authorise the Corporate Director - Education and Young People's Services to issue Public Notice to expand the school.

The project is in line with Kent strategies and in particular the following Supporting Outcomes:

·         All children and young people are engaged, thrive and achieve their potential through academic and vocational education

·         Kent young people are confident and ambitious with choices and access to work, education and training opportunities

Financial Implications:

The costs to this project will be outlined in the report that will be considered by the Education and Young People’s Services Cabinet Committee.

Legal Implications:

Any legal implications will be explained in the report to the Cabinet Member prior to him taking his decision.

Equality Implications: 

Equality Implications:  An Equality Impact Assessment will be produced before the start of the consultation process and will be accessible on line via the following link:

www.kent.gov.uk/schoolconsultations

As Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform I agree to:

a)    Authorise the Corporate Director - Education and Young People's Services to issue Public Notice to expand Palmarsh Primary School to 1FE, with a published admissions number of 30 from September 2018 (subject to planning permission being granted);

b)    Allocate £2.2m from the Education and Young People’s Service Capital budget;

c)    Authorise the Director of Property and Infrastructure Support in consultation  with the Director of Governance and Law to enter into any necessary contracts/ agreements on behalf of the County Council; and

d)    Authorise the Director of Property and Infrastructure Support to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts. Variations to contract value to be no more than 10% above the capital funding agreed by the Cabinet Member without requiring a new Record Of Decision.

Should objections, not already considered by me when taking this decision, be received during the public notice period a separate decision will be required in order to continue the proposal and allow for a proper consideration of the points raised.

Reason(s) for decision:

The Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent (2016-20) sets out the intention to commission additional school places in the Hythe area of Shepway.  The Plan also mentioned a specific need to expand Palmarsh School by up to 1 FE.  

In reaching this decision I have taken into account:

• The need for extra school places required in Hythe as the 1050 house are built in the Martello Lakes development.
• The views expressed by those attending the public consultation meeting on 19 September 2016, and those put in writing in response to the consultation;
• The views of the local County Councillor, Area Education Officer; Headteacher and Governing Body of Palmarsh Primary School;
• The Equalities Impact Assessment and comments received regarding this; and
• the views of the Education and Young People’s Services Cabinet Committee which are set out below

Financial Implications

a)    Capital – The enlargement of the School requires the provision of additional classrooms, as well as ancillary facilities in preparation for further development.  The total estimated cost of the expansion is likely to be in the region of£2.2m.

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b)     Revenue - The School will receive increased funding through the Delegated Budget.  The rising roles will be protected in line with KCC Growth Funding Policy. Revenue funding will also be allocated to enable the School to resource each new classroom as they come on line. At present that is at a value of £6,000 per classroom.

c)    Human – The School will appoint additional staff as required, as the School size increases and the need arises.     

The first part of the decision (16/00038) seeks approval of the document “Our Approach to Asset Management in Highways” for publication to the County Council website.“Our Approach to Asset Management in Highways” is a concise document that describes how, by adopting the principles of asset management; the council will contribute to achieving the County Council’s vision and strategic objectives detailed in “Increasing Opportunities, Improving Outcomes”.

The second part of this decision (16/00038(2)) will seek approval of a detailed strategy document developed by Members and officers entitled “Implementing our Approach to Asset Management in Highways” in order to fully embed the principles of asset management described in the ‘approach’ document.

Changes to the Department for Transport (DfT) rules for funding highway maintenance have been introduced through its incentive fund to encourage local authorities to embed the use of asset management techniques into their management of highway maintenance and decision making around funding and priorities.  The main aim of the asset management approach being encouraged by the DfT is to clearly link investment decisions with an understanding of what that means in terms of outcomes.  In January 2016, Kent assessed itself as a Band 1 authority for incentive fund purposes.  If Kent cannot evidence that it has fully adopted the use of asset management and methodology and in doing so progressed to Band 3, it will receive £13m less in capital funding over the next four years.

The authority needs to introduce and adopt a lifecycle planning (for roads only) and manage investment on that basis. The authority also needs to publish an asset management “policy” describing how asset management principles will support KCC’s strategic objectives and strategy that clearly links the highway asset management approach with the corporate vision.

The approval of both documents will enable the council to conform to these requirements.

As Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, I agree to adopt and authorise publication of Implementing Our Approach to Asset Management in Highways in order to maximise capital funding issued by the Department of Transport

(1)          Ms Mings introduced the first part of the report which provided information on the Fund employers at 30 September 2016 and contributions from Employers for the second quarter of 2016/17.

(2)          Mr Tagg reported on applications to join the Superannuation Fund, a contract extension and a new resolution entity joining the Superannuation Fund.

(3)          RESOLVED that

(a)  the update on employers and the new resolution body joining the Superannuation Fund be noted; and

(b)  the admission to the Kent County Council Superannuation Fund of the successful bidder for the Medway Council Youth Services Contract be approved; and

(c)  a deed of Modification be entered into with Mytime Active; and

(d)  the Chairman sign the minutes relating to recommendations (b) and (c) above after the meeting; and

(e)  once legal agreements have been prepared for (b) and (c) above the Kent County Council seal be affixed to the legal documents.