Issue - meetings

A report from the Executive Director of People is attached.  (Key decision – reference number 5525)

(This item contains exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 (information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person – including the authority holding that information) of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, as amended).

Cllr Abdul Abdullahi (Cabinet Member for Children’s Services) introduced the report of the Executive Director People, setting out the strategic plan for delivering works and services to deliver the Schools Capital Programme and outlining additional opportunities for further capital investment outside of capital grant income to deliver the strategic objectives.

It was confirmed that provision of more Special Educational Needs (SEN) pupil places within the borough was included in the objectives.

Members confirmed they had taken into account the exempt information set out in the Part 2 (Confidential) report also found on the agenda.

DECISION:  The Cabinet agreed to:

I.  Grant the approval to spend the 2023/24 and 2024/25 Capital Grant Budget of £24.75m and £10.23m respectively as set out in paragraph 44 of the report and for its inclusion in the Councils future Capital Programme.

II.  Give approval to the strategic objectives as set out in the report and delegate authority to the Lead Member for Children’s Services to agree a more detailed programme in May 2023 (Delivery Plan).

III.  Give approval to commence the delivery of projects identified in the Delivery Plan to allow tenders to be pursued in compliance with the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules.

IV.  Delegate authority to the Lead Member for Children’s Services to approve the procurement and award of works and services contracts for the specific SEN projects including professional and technical expenses as detailed in restricted appendix ‘A’ given their strategic importance for delivering SEN places to address increasing demand.

V.  Delegate authority to Executive Director of People to:

a.  Approve the award of works contracts up to the value of £5 million for all condition related and decarbonisation projects to be included in the Delivery Plan.

b.  Manage the Programme’s individual project budgets within approved resources. Ongoing fluctuations in construction related materials and associated costs and variations between estimates and tender return costs require constant review. Our ability to expedite the approval process will reduce the time taken to award the works contracts within the limited tender acceptance periods.

c.  Allocate a contingency provision (up to £350,000 including professional and technical fees) for urgent works and/or schemes identified as priority but not yet programmed.

VI.  Delegate authority to Executive Director of Place or the Executive Director of People to accept any future funding rounds from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) and to add this to the Schools Capital Programme.

VII.  Note and authorise applications to the Department for Education (DfE) for Secretary of State consent in respect of any disposal or repurposing of the vacant caretakers / site managers properties.

VIII.  Note Cabinet’s previous approval (KD 5373) of the approach in relation to the disposal or repurposing of the vacant caretaker properties, allocating income generated to support the delivery of SEN provision as a strategic priority.

The report sets out the options considered, if any, and the reasons for the recommendations and the decision.

(Key decision – reference number 5525)