NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL EXECUTIVE

8 June 2021

SCHOOLS CONDITION CAPITAL PROGRAMME – 2021/22

Report of the Corporate Director – Children and Young People’s Service

Appendices B and C of this report contain information of the type defined in paragraph

3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

1.0 PURPOSE OF THE REPORT

1.1 To ask the Executive to recommend to the Chief Executive Officer that he use his emergency delegated powers to approve the Schools Condition Capital Programme for 2021/22.

2.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2.1 Following on from the expiry of the Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020 (“the 2020 Regulations”), which allowed for committee meetings to be held remotely, the County Council resolved at its meeting on 5 May 2021 that, for the present time, Committee business should be continued via the Chief Executive Officer making urgent decisions that would previously have been made by the Council’s committees, under his emergency decision making powers in the Officers’ Delegation Scheme, in consultation with other Officers and Members as appropriate. The Committee’s views and recommendations will be reported to the Chief Executive Officer for him to take into account when taking the formal decisions.

2.2 In announcements made inApril 2021 the DfE allocated Schools Condition funding totaling £9.783m to North Yorkshire County Council for 2021/22.

2.3 A new allocation methodology has been introduced by the DfE for 2021/22, using their own condition data for schools. The2021/22 allocation amount included £3.413m transitional funding, ensuring NYCC did not receive a lower allocation than that for 2020/21. There is no indication yet if the transitional element will continue into 2022/23 or beyond.

2.4 This is a further single year allocation. A one-year programme for 2020/21 was approved by the Executive in June 2020 and is currently being delivered. An addition to the programme was approved by Executive in December 2020, following a one-off announcement of further funding in August 2020. The Programme is monitored through the quarterly capital report.

2.5 Funding is provided separately for the provision of additional school places (through the Basic Need Grant). A £44m programme for 2018 - 21 was approved by the Executive in July 2018 and is currently being delivered. The current programme will bereviewed later during 2021 following the most recent funding announcement.

2.6 The amount of funding allocated tothe LA to meet the condition needs of maintained school buildings is expected to continue to reduce as schools convert to academy status, notwithstanding anyfuture decisions regarding transitional protection.

2.7 This report proposes a one-year programme of investments to address the condition and suitability needs of school buildings in 2021/22.

2.8 A draft of this report (excluding the private appendices) was presented to the Schools Forum on 27 May 2021.

3.0 GOVERNMENT ALLOCATION ANNOUNCEMENTS

3.1 The Schools Condition Allocation for 2021/22 was announced on 27 April 2021.

3.2 The Schools Condition Grant is part of the single capital potand may be used forall local priorities, although they are intended specifically for investment in schools (and notionally for Children’s Centres). Schools Condition funding does not have to be used strictly for maintenance; it isthe only capital funding stream available to support other capital improvement works e.g. compliance, suitability, invest to saveprojects or investment required to address strategic service priorities.

3.3 Academies receive their funding for condition related investment and devolved capital direct from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) so are not included in these figures. Theamount usually deducted (in years where transitional protection didnot apply) from Schools Condition Allocation for each year is based on open academies at the beginning of November and those expected to open on or before 31 March prior to the relevant allocation year. This means that no projects have been included in theproposed 2021/22 programme for any schools that were expected to convert by 31 March 2021 (including those where conversion has been delayed). It is again proposed that where projects have been included in theprogramme but schools later become an academy, a judgement will be made about whether the scheme should proceed or not. This will take account of the nature and value of the project, the stage of design development reached and the extent to which the project will extend beyond the date of conversion. This reflects the policythat schools convert toacademy status in their existing condition.

3.4 Academies either receive a direct School Condition Allocation or can bidfor capital funding to the Academies Condition Improvement Fund (CIF), with the determining factor of the required process being the overall size of their multi academy trust. School buildings will continue to be maintained safely for as long as they remain maintained by the local authority. If essential work is needed insummer 2021 then this will continue to completion.

3.5 The allocation is once again 100% grantfunded (no borrowing approvals or PFI). There is no time-limit on expenditure so can be carried forward if unspent at the end of the financial year without risk of claw back. Thefollowing table compares the allocations over the past three years:

Capital Funding Allocation – LA Schools (Community, Voluntary Controlled and Foundation)

2019/20

2020/21

2021/22

LA School Condition

Allocation

£10,151,416

£9,783,429

Plus £4,543,607

one-off allocation

£9,783,429

Including £3,413,928

transitional award

Devolved Formula

Capital (LA Schools)

£1,489,666

£1,404,029

£1,360,086

3.6 The April allocation announcement for 2021/22 signalled the introduction of a new methodology to reflect the results of the DfE programme named Condition Data Collection, which completed in 2019. Transitional protection funding has been applied for 2021/22 so that no responsible body receive less than their main allocation amount for 2020/21. Had transition funding not applied then the amount received by NYCC for 21/22 would have been c. £6.3m and would have represented an approximate 35% reduction in annual funding. There is no definite position at this stage for condition capital funding beyond 2021/22. However, should transitional funding be reduced or removed infuture years then itis clear that NYCC will facea severe financial impact through implementation ofthe new methodology. The next DfE programme of condition data collection is not expected to complete until potentially 2026, so the baseline data currently in use may well will remain in place forsome years.

3.7 Annual allocations are usually reduced to reflect the number of academy conversions and therefore thereducing pupil numbers in the maintained sector. It is difficult to estimate the scale and speed of academy conversions and therefore the potential level of reduction year on year. Thefuture pipeline ofvoluntary conversions for North Yorkshire schools is slowing but there is no certainty that will continue.

	Voluntary conversions	Sponsored conversions (directed cases)
2017/18	27	2
2018/19	13	5
2019/20	12	5
2020/21	12	3
2021/22 Projected	2	6

3.8 As at 1 May 2021 there remained 238maintained schools in North Yorkshire; 3 Nursery, 207 Primary, 16 Secondary, 8 Special schools and 4 Pupil Referral Units. This represents 65% of all 365 schools in North Yorkshire.

3.9 The County Council is the responsible bodyfor asset management purposes for 213 of the 238 maintained schools. The remaining 25 are voluntary aided schools who receive their school condition allocations via separate arrangements.

3.10 The DfE used pupil census data as part of their allocation methodology for this latestallocation and will do so in future. The following table shows the cumulative pupil numbers for the relevant categories of schools based on the January 2021 census:

	Maintained C & VC	Maintained VA & Foundation	Academies, free schools and UTC	Total Pupils
Primary	23484	2388	16439	42311
Secondary	9970	2285	24553	36808
Special & PRU	834	0	264	1098
Total Pupils	34288	4673	41256	80217

4.0 IMPACT OF EDUCATION REFORM

4.1 In March 2016 a White Paper entitled ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’ was published indicating the intention that all schools should become academies by2020 or have a plan that would see them convert no later than 2022.

4.2 The White Paper signalled the creation ofa new duty on local authorities to facilitate conversion, with existing duties onasset management to continue until such point as all schools have converted.

4.3 Subsequent announcements by the Secretary of State rowed back from the element of compulsion for all schools. Most recently however, on 28 April 2021, the Education Secretary renewed the Government’s vision for all schools to be part of a multi-academy trust. He announced that ‘’all schools will now have the option to ‘try the academy experience before they buy’ – associating with multi-academy trusts for a defined period to experience the benefits for themselves and their students, with no commitment’’. It is too early to assess the likely impact of this initiative but clearly the Government wish to generate new impetus into the academies programme.

4.4 As schools convert to academy status the local authority’s Schools Condition Allocation is expected to continue to reduce. Year on year this will have an impact on flexibility within the programme to address strategic investment needs.

5.0 CAPITAL PLAN 2020/21

5.1 The programme historically includes a small amount of general contingency which helps to addresshigh tenders and to respond toemerging condition issues. The general contingency in the 2020/21 programme hasbeen fully utilisedto address in year top upsand overspends for the 2020/21 programme and programmes in previous years. Carry forwards from individual programme budgets are shown in Appendix A including £2.535m carried forward from the 2020/21 Capital Planned Maintenance Programme. This is a higher figure than usual and is explained at p.8.7 of this report.

6.0 PRIORITIES FOR INVESTMENT

6.1 The Local Priority Statement, which sets out the County Council’s priorities for investment in schools, was reviewed and approved by full council in February 2015. This was a document as part of theprevailing Asset Management Plan requirements of the time as outlined by the Department for Education. More recently, the Department hasintroduced revised guidance titled ‘Good estate management for schools’ (GEMS). This was first introduced in 2018and has been updated and amended on several occasions since then. The GEMS guidance promotes the establishment of both a School Estate Vision and School Estate Strategy document that would together replace the existing Local Policy Statement and act as the guide for all future investment in the school estate. It is proposed that both of these documents should be developed and subsequently adopted during 2021/22 and before the 2022/23 Schools Capital Programme is set.

6.2 Therefore the 2021/22 capital programme will continue to be based on the key priorities contained within the prevailing 2015 Local PriorityStatement which are:

· Providing new school places in areas of growth

· Supporting school improvement through collaboration between schools and the restructuring of educational provision

· Meeting key local service priorities or statutory service obligations

· Enabling savings or efficiencies to be made in the use ofproperty

· Ensuring compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements

· Maintaining the condition of the school estate to ensure buildings continue to be safe, warm, weather-tight and fit for their purpose.

6.3 It isconsidered unlikely that there would bemuch, if any, departure from the headline priorities listed above when the new GEMS approach is adopted as they are the core elements of effective property management in support of service delivery.

7.0 CARBON REDUCTION

7.1 The size of the school estate means that it is an important factor in the Council’s overall carbon reduction plan. In developing and delivering schemes every opportunity will be explored to provide a solution that assists with carbon reduction. However, given the current size of the maintenance backlog at £23.5m, the need for modernisation, and the limited funding available it is unlikely that schemes will be prioritised for inclusion in future programmes solely on the basis of carbon reduction. This will be considered in more detail as the School Estate Vision and Strategy under the GEMS approach are developed during 2021/22. For thefirst time this year a Climate Change Impact Assessment hasbeen developed in support of a Schools Condition Capital Programme, and this is attached as Appendix D.

7.2 All works undertaken are done so in accordance with Building Regulations which provide for high standards in respect of energy efficiency. As a result, much of the work via the planned maintenance programme (e.g. roof, window and boiler replacements) will have a positive impactupon carbon emissions, in addition to addressing essential backlog maintenance.

7.3 In addition to the above, work is being undertaken via the corporate programme Beyond Carbon to investigate the cost and other implications associated with the decarbonisation of heat, including within schools and corporate properties, and this will be utilised to inform the planning of future work programmes.

8.0 PROPOSED SCHOOLS CONDITION CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2021/22

8.1 Appendix A provides a proposed Capital Programme for 2021/22. The following sections of thereport provide the rationale for each element ofthe programme. Appendix B (not forpublication) indicates the proposed investments in 2021/22. For reasons of commercial sensitivity individual project budgets are not published.

General Compliance issues

8.2 The County Council continues to help schools with issues emerging from Ofsted inspections around the health, safety and welfare of pupils, including boundary and internal security issues that mayhave a bearing on judgements around the safeguarding of children. Schools often have insufficient funding to address these issues themselves and look to the local authority for support. Thecosts of such adaptations can be significant. A number of such schemes have been successfully undertaken over the last three years. It is proposed that any further urgent schemes should be supported in-year from compliance sums.

8.3 It isproposed that £94k of unallocated compliance funding from 2020/21 plus an additional allocation of £206k should form the£300k budget for compliance in 2021/22.

Capital Planned Maintenance

8.4 The total maintenance backlog in schools across the County continues to be significant despite the ongoing programme ofplanned capital work. Itis therefore important that investment continues to be made in maintaining and preventing further deterioration inthe fabric of school buildings. The total backlog is £23.5m and is split as follows: £500k D1 and D2, £6.2m C1 and £16.8m C2. The backlog work is categorised based on DfE methodology. The condition grading of ‘D’ represents life expired and ‘C’ represent major defects/not operating as intended. Priority1 is ‘urgent’ and Priority‘2’ is essential. These four categories represent the‘backlog’.

8.5 The continued low value of annually allocated Devolved Formula Capital (DFC) impacts on the level offunding available from schools to contribute towards the Capital Planned Maintenance Programme which addresses structural issues such asroof and window replacements, mechanical and electrical upgrades etc. There was a one-off additional DFC allocation announced in January 2019 which benefited schools, but this has not been repeated in subsequent years. With the previous agreement of the Schools Forum projects are now only be included in theProgramme on the understanding that schools will contribute all oftheir available DFCin that financial year. In some cases this means that schools will be asked to fully fund maintenance projects that have been identified through condition surveys as a high priorityrather than other projects they might have hoped to progress. Onthis basis, an assumption has been made that £100k will be contributed by schools to the Capital Planned Maintenance budget in 2021/22.

8.6 A Capital Planned Maintenance budget of £3.78m (including fees and contingency) is proposed for schools and Children’s Centers in 2021/22. This includes £2.53m carried forward from 20/21 plus a new allocation from the 21/22 funding of£1.15m.

8.7 The funding carried forward is higher than previous years. Also, the new funding being allocated for planned maintenance for 21/22 is less than typically seen. Both of these differences aredue to a number of factors. Firstly, some of the projects approved in 20/21 could not be progressed due to COVID-19, and these are now programmed for delivery during 21/22, alongside other capital projects that were deferred from 20/21. Secondly, the DfE allocated one-off additional condition funding during 20/21. This enabled a programme ofboiler replacement works to be developed and subsequently approved by Executive in December 2020. Some of these boiler schemes are complete, but equally a number are planned over the coming months. Finally, the Council’s bid last year for Public Sector Decarbonisation Grant funding was successful, and announced recently. Projects at 22 schools have been granted c. £1.3m funding andthese are being programmed for deliveryover summer 2021. The combination of these factors means that in totality the LA teams, together with our consultants, will be delivering works to the overall value normally experienced in any given year. Theadditional andexternal funding received does however mean that there is areduced call on new funding for Capital Planned Maintenance through the 21/22 Programme. The programmes of works are being carefully co-ordinated and projects at schools are being combined with one contractor undertaking the works where possible

8.8 The one-year programme has been developed taking account of the highest priority condition items, as identified through the annual condition survey and discussions with schools, with theremainder as a contingency for urgent unplanned work which emerges mid-year. Once again this year it will contain a smaller number ofhigher value projects than in previous years as there are some schools which still have growing maintenance backlogs requiring significant investment.

8.9 Priority compliance andemergency works that arise during the year will be met by either the General Compliance or contingency funding, this may include items such aspriority legionella works, boiler replacements and fire alarm replacements. Work to increase electrical capacity which emerges as a significant additional cost will need to be accommodated within project costs or prioritised from contingencies if necessary.

8.10 Appendix C (not for Publication) provides a list of the proposed schemes for inclusion in the 2021/22 Programme. Advance planning has been undertaken once again this year to ensure that this Programme can be commissioned and delivered in a timely fashion.

Condition and Asbestos Surveys

8.11 In previous years, the County Council paid an annual fee to Jacobs and later Mouchel for undertaking condition and asbestos surveys, in line with the contract. These surveys help to inform investment priorities and are not replaced by the national Condition Data Collection which looks at higher level condition in order to inform central government capital allocations. The costs of this work were uplifted annually in line with inflation.

8.12 This work was brought back in-house in 2016. It has been agreed that in 2021/22 CYPS will continue to be recharged on the basis of a proportionate contribution to internal costs forBuilding Surveyors in the Property Service undertaking the survey work. The financial provision in 2021/22 will be £285k which represents a £15k reduction on the previous year in recognition of Academy conversions.

Asbestos Management

8.13 A large number of the County Council’s school buildings contain asbestos, which is managed in situ. Following 2018 guidance on the management of asbestos in schools it was proposed to undertake some risk based assessment of asbestos to ensure school asbestos management plans are available. Thecosts of any further investigations required in 2021/22 will be met through the contingency element of the Capital Planned Maintenance Programme.

Lath and Plaster Ceilings

8.14 Lath and plaster ceilings are inspected and reviewed by Maintenance Surveyors as part of theannual condition data inspection, with condition being recorded on the survey. Further inspection and investigations are undertaken ifcondition causes concern. There is one scheme to replace a lath and plaster ceiling included in theproposed programme for 2021/22. We also continue to address failing ceilings from contingencies in the planned maintenance programme in accordance with the agreed approach.

Accessibility Related Works

8.15 Schools Access Initiative funding was withdrawn in 2011/12. It is necessary to continue to make provision for some accessibility work in the programme to address the needs of individual children and for any significant access related work that emerges from other developments. In addition to a carry forward of £157k it is proposed to set aside an additional sumof £143k from the 2021/22 allocation for such projects.

Specialist Provision Capital Investment

8.16 In June 202, the Executive approved thecreation of a Specialist Provision Targeted Capital Programme (SPTCP) to support the ambitions contained in the SEND Strategic Plan:

· Autism – development of a new special school to meet the needs of high functioning pupils who cannot thrive within a mainstream environment but require curriculum stretch

· Social and Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) – development of locality based provisions to meet theneeds of secondary pupils and potentially upper Key Stage 2 pupils

· Targeted provisions – roll-out of Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the targeted provisions programme

· Modernising special schools – ensuring that our maintained special schools have thefacilities and present in a way that makes them comparable to Independent Special schools

· Investment in PRS – particularly addressing the condition / curricular facilities available forthe Pupil Referral Service

8.17 The backgroundto this proposal was that North Yorkshire specialist provisions have become stretched in terms of meeting all needs in all localities. Significant growth in the number ofEducation Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) have accentuated the pressure and led to the authority having to deploy a significant number ofplacements in the independent sector placing additional pressure on the High Needs budget.

8.18 It wasparticularly the pressure on our high needs budget that led to the creation of theSpecialist Provision Targeted Capital Programme, asit was considered that significant investment in both extending the range and remit of specialist and targeted provisions, and enhancing the suitability and quality of learning environment in our existing facilities, could both improve the learning outcomes and experience for a wider cohort ofyoung people and reduce the dependency on out-of-county placements.

8.19 It was agreed that SPTCP commitments within theSchool Condition Capital Programme would only be setagainst the funding allocated for investment in modernisation and suitability related schemes. The programme element for planned maintenance would therefore be unaffected and would continue to be prioritised on condition basis across all schools. Only maintained school premises would benefit from SPTCP investment given that NYCC does not receive Schools Condition Allocation for academies.

8.20 It was also agreed that moving forward a number of governance principles should apply:

· Commitments for the SPTCP could be for individual projects, or for block sumsto build up an SPTCP fund

· SPTCP funded projects will only be undertaken on maintained school sites in North Yorkshire

· Commitments to individual SPTCP projects would require Member approval/ratification either through the NYCC Executive through presentation of the annual School Condition Capital Programme, or through the quarterly capital monitoring arrangements should it be necessary to approve a project in mid-cycle

· Schools Forum and CYPS Executive Members would receive bi-annual reports on the deployment of block sums (noting commercial sensitivity) and theoverall position of the SPTCP and its associated fund

· Total annual contributions to the SPTCP from Schools Condition Grant would not exceed £2mper year, or 40% of the Programme element for modernisation and suitability schemes

· Schools Forum agreement would be required should the LA wish to allocate more than 40% in any single year

· Should the LA be successful in securing significant external funds for SPTCP purposes then the whole SPTCP approach would berevisited with the Schools Forum and Executive prior to any further Schools Condition Grant commitments being made to the SPTCP

8.21 The approved 2020/21 Programme included a £1.6m allocation to the SPTCP. TheExecutive report from June 2020 signaled that the first call on the funding would be for the successful project to establish satellite provision in Ripon for Mowbray School. This was subsequently approved mid-cycle by the SEND Capital Board and through the quarterly capital monitoring arrangements, as were funding commitments to two other schools. These were Grove Road CP School, Harrogate and Springwater School. Grove Road have established an eight place Targeted Mainstream Provision for Communication and Interaction needs. Approval was given to renovate the former Starbeck Children’s Centre for use by Springwater School to provide additional post 16 provision. Further funding has been committed for advanced feasibility work for potential schemes at Alverton CP School, Selby High School andThe Wensleydale School, all with a view to the creation of Targeted Mainstream Provision. The total investment to date stands at £527k. The carry forward figure from 20/21 for SPTCP is therefore £1.073m. Theproject specific commitments against the initial 2020/21 SPTCP allocation of £1.6m are, as yet, relatively small. This was expected, as a principle of the SPTCP is that a fund would build up over time to address the strategic priorities set out at p.8.16.

8.22 Schools Forum were presented with an update of SPTCP commitments to date on 18 March 2021. Attention was drawn in this report that due to the factors outlined at p.8.7 above it was likely (subsequently confirmed) there would be an increased amount of capital available forallocation in the21/22 Programme. Further, that as a consequence, the LA may wish to increase the allocation for SPTCP in 21/22 beyond thehitherto agreed maximum threshold of £2m or 40%. Appendix 1 confirms the proposal that theSPTCP allocation for21/22 should be £2.7m representing 45% of the overall £5.99m to be newly allocated this year for modernisation and suitability schemes. A draft of this report containing that detail was presented to the Schools Forum on 27 May 2021. It is considered a prudent step to make this enhanced SPTCP allocation for this year as our ambitions under theSEND Strategic Plan remain and yet, given the newDfE methodology, there is potential wewill receive smaller school condition allocations in future years.

8.23 On 9 April 2021 the Government announced thenewly titled High Needs Provision Capital Allocations (formerly Specialist Provision Capital Fund) and NYCC was allocated £716k for 2021/22. Although welcome, this was a disappointing allocation in the context ofthe rising level of need in North Yorkshire. There is no indication at this stage if this will be one-off funding or become a regular annual funding stream for Local Authorities. This allocation is the only funding we could reasonably use should we wish to collaborate with academy schools to deliver some of the SEND strategic priorities such as phase 2 and 3 of the Targeted Mainstream Provision initiative. This new High Needs funding in no way removes theneed for continuation of the SPTCP.

Proposed Capital Investment – Strategic Priorities:

8.24 A number of strategic priorities are proposed as described inthe following sections. The total value ofthese priority investments in mainstream schools is £6.38m including thecarried forward sums. Further detail isincluded in Appendix B (not forpublication). It will not be possible to include all of the projects which schools have asked the local authority to support. Remaining bids will be reconsidered in future years.

School Modernisation

8.25 It isproposed to undertake a further programme of strategic priorities to bring accommodation at a number ofschools up to modern standards. The 21/22 programme will prioritise 19 projects with an overall budget allocation of £5.732m. This compares to £3.388m for14 projects last year. These projects align with the key priorities described at 6.2 of this report. Most of the schemes identified for inclusion have had advance feasibility work undertaken in 20/21 to provide better cost certainty moving forward.

Replacement of Prefabricated Classroom Units

8.26 A rolling review of the condition of Prefabricated /Portable Classroom Units is maintained to determine whether there are any that are beyond economic repair or at risk of becoming unsafe. Where the school has no further use for them in thelong term they are removed toreduce the school’s maintenance liabilities. Thelocal authority will continue to support this wherever possible.