EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE COUNCIL

Transcription

1 Agenda Item No: 5 Page Numbers: EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE COUNCIL Report to: The Cabinet 01 July 2008 Wards: All wards Building Schools for the Future - Project Management Report of the Director of Corporate Policy and Strategy A. Executive Summary This report outlines progress to date and the forward plan of action with regard to the proposed implementation of the BSF Programme in the East Riding and the scope of Project Management to oversee the implementation of such a project. B. Corporate Priorities Safer Communities Valuing our Environment Local Problem Solving Reducing Inequalities Revitalising our Communities Retaining the East Riding Character Supporting Vulnerable People A Well Managed Authority C. Portfolio Key Strategic Issues Policy Performance and Local Strategic Partnership Children and Young People and Schools Corporate Support Services Community Engagement/Local Economic Development D. Recommendation and Reason for Recommendation That Cabinet, in order to progress the BSF programme for the East Riding to a state of readiness to deliver, approve: 1. CMT to be the Programme Board for the BSF Project;

2 2. the proposals set out in paragraphs 2.5 to 2.7 in respect of responsibilities for Project Owners, the reporting structure and the proposed appointment of an Interim Project Director to the BSF Project; 3. a ring fenced pre-construction resource fund of circa 3m to 4m with an initial allocation of 0.75m for 2008/09 for the appointment or securing of additional staff for Infrastructure and Facilities, Asset Strategy, Education, Finance, Legal and an Interim Project Director (including any support) for the initial workstreams to allow the project to proceed against the programme as indicated; 4. a pathfinder for a 0 to 19 school be submitted; and 5. expressions of interest for the position of Interim Project Director be sought from internal candidates only in the first instance, and backfilling arrangements be made as necessary. 1. Background 1.1 Previous information regarding the Building Schools for the Future programme had indicated that the East Riding would be in the third tranche waves 7-9, ie with funding becoming available between and The current position is now as follows: One secondary school scheme is already being undertaken at Vermuyden School, albeit an additional 7m is required for the final stage of the refurbishment. A bid for a second scheme has been made to bring forward a scheme from BSF for Wolfreton School. A request to the Council has been received from Government Office for expressions of interest to act as one of the pathfinders for the provision of 0 to 19 schools - which would appear to be for BSF. During April 2008 a request was received from Government Office as part of the BSF programme, requesting a response to a public consultation on how the Building Schools for the Future programme should be managed from waves 7 onwards with a response required by the 4 July 2008 immediately proceeded by the submission for Primary Schools Capital submission Strategy for Change. The Council has now submitted the Primary Schools Capital submission and is currently drafting the response for BSF by 4 July Outstanding is a request for resubmission by all authorities in the remaining waves for their preferred proposed timetable with the position of each authority being re-examined. The deadline for resubmission is October The earliest that the Council would be ready to implement the full programme of BSF is currently believed to be in the first year of the wave to which it is currently attributed, namely April 2011, with a start on site following the Summer Term in August Following consultation local authorities will be able to resubmit their expressions of interest and the DCSF will publish the revised national programme for waves 7-15 in Spring The main criterion on which expressions of interest will be judged will be readiness to deliver instead of standards and deprivation, as was the case for the waves 1-6 authorities. However, although not stated, it is possible that the nature of the proposals may also influence the decision making process.

3 1.3 Subject to proposals currently set in hand with regards to the delivery framework, work undertaken on asset management to date, and work commenced on the Education Strategy and approval of resource allocation, if the DCSF is minded to pursue delivery as a priority, the Council may be in a good position to achieve its allocation at the preferred timescale. 2. Preparation for BSF Timetable 2.1 To set the decision making in context, an indicative draft timetable with an outline of stages and indicative key actions is attached at Appendix A. This provides an indication of the overall need for resources to meet the workstreams and overall timetable for the project. This is likely to be subject to revision following appointment of the Interim Project Director. 2.2 The scale and complexity of the work and the lead-in time to actually starting building work on site will be lengthy, of the order of 3 to 3½ years. The Bridlington Schools PFI Project took 2½ years from the announcement of the approval to the outline business case to starting building work on some of the schools. This was for a building programme costing 19m compared to the BSF Programme which is likely to be 250m- 300m plus, albeit spread across a much longer period of circa 6 to 9 years. 2.3 The planning and consultation stage is likely to be extensive before detail design work can commence, although detail design will occur in phases. This is necessary because considerable consultation will be required regarding delivery of the curriculum, collaboration between schools and also between schools and colleges and the wider community provision and linkages. 2.4 The question of diversity will need to be addressed. The number of academies and trust schools the East Riding may desire to provide, together with pupil place planning in line with population projections, will need to be considered and resolved. Appointments and Reporting Structure 2.5 In order to enable the Authority to be in a position to bid for inclusion, hopefully in the first phase of wave 7, a Project Board is recommended comprising: CFAS: CPS: CR: Director/Assistant Director - Chair School Improvement Service Secondary Headteacher Asset Strategy Legal Finance Infrastructure and Facilities It is further recommended that the Board includes an Interim Project Director. This would be a new post created at Head of Service level which would have the key role of drawing together the relevant strands for the project, driving it forward and assisting the Programme Board to consider options including, as necessary, the way forward for long term project management if East Riding is successful in wave 7. Members will note that the proposed Project Board also includes a professional technical representative from Infrastructure and Facilities. It is felt that this is necessary because of the scale of funding involved and the need to ensure that robust and sustainable buildings are designed which will provide good quality accommodation for a minimum of 60 years and that in the event that facilities management forms part of the contract, that measures are included to

4 ensure that a satisfactory service is provided and that the implementation process selected reflects value for money.

5 The Interim Project Director and Project Owners, once confirmed, will also be members of the Board with representatives to cover Information Technology and Human Resources as required. 2.6 It is also proposed that CMT be the Programme Board, receiving monthly progress reports from the Interim Project Director and the Project Sponsors. 2.7 Because of the wide impact on the overall community, and in line with the roles recommended for Building Schools for the Future, it is recommended that the following appointment be made: Interim Project Director for Building Schools for the Future and the following postholders roles be agreed: Project Owners: Education Vision and Strategy Assistant Director (Children & Young People Services) Asset and Investment Strategy Head of Asset Strategy 2.8 The cost of additional in-house staff plus the potential employment of external consultants and the overall cost of the lead in to BSF is likely to be considerable, possibly of the order of 3m- 4m, the majority of which requires to be funded in advance by the Authority. The proposed programme is estimated to result in a budget requirement of 0.75m in 2008/09. It is proposed that these initial costs be met through the use of one-off Local Authority Business Grant Incentive (LABGI) grant funding received in 2007/08, which has not yet been earmarked for use in the Council's approved financial plan. The financial implications will be regularly reviewed as the project progresses and plans, costs and funding become more certain. 2.9 At this stage initial programming is looking at undertaking four to six schools a year amounting to some addition of 50m per annum increase on the current 80m programme undertaken through the framework agreement. The majority of these schools would be undertaken as extended and refurbished schools while only a very few would be completely new schools It is considered that due to the scale of the project, once the design work comes on stream the Capital Programme Working Group operates the monitoring of the project as for any other capital project with reports from the Interim Project Director for the individual schools with a separate regular monthly meeting held solely for BSF with key personnel during the life of the project in terms of monitoring expenditure on schemes only. 3. Other Considerations 3.1 Current position and proposed actions In order to bring the Council to a state of readiness the following actions are under way or needed: the briefing of secondary schools has been undertaken and work has commenced with presentations, discussions, and workshops on the Education Vision; the Education Strategy is now in preparation and consultation; the Asset Work on Schools data collection is progressing but there is still much to do; the Asset Strategy work on proposals will commence upon the completion of the Education Strategy and Vision and will then be followed by comparator studies on investment and implementation options for the way forward for best value for money in conjunction with Infrastructure and Facilities and Finance;

6 the work on preparation of detail briefs common to all schools has yet to commence; the study of other local authorities models and lessons learned on implementation has commenced with visits to some of the major implementations in previous waves. 3.2 The Authority has recently had to undertake intensive work to prepare and agree a Primary Strategy for Change (PSfC) showing how capital investment of around 45m will support strategic aims in the primary school sector over the next 15 years. Following detailed consultation a submission has now been made by the required date of 16 June and if successful will require extensive work over the next 10 years. Approval to the Strategy by the DCSF is necessary to secure additional primary schools capital funding for and beyond. Barry Adams Director of Corporate Policy and Strategy Contact Officer: Kristan Livingston Head of Asset Strategy Telephone Number: E.mail: kristan.livingston@eastriding.gov.uk Background Papers

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