Agenda item

Context:

To scrutinise a change in the funding of building maintenance for new schools through an amendment to the funding formula.

Key Issues:

·         The current formula distributes funding for building maintenance via two methods:

-       Floor area of the school – with an uplift for the condition of the school.  This is between 1.0 and 1.4. This accounts for 50% of the funding.

-       Pupil numbers at the school from the prior January the Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC) count.  This is the official census from Welsh Government.  For the financial year 2018-19 the pupil count is at January 2018. This accounts for 50% of the funding.

·         Apart from the condition weighting there is no allowance made for new schools, where the building maintenance costs will be lower. 

·         A consultation document was distributed on the 21^st September 2017 with a closing date of 9^th November 2017 to consult on the following proposal:

The proposal is to change the formula so that all new schools are not distributed funding for building maintenance for the first 5 years following the opening of the new school.

Years 6 – 10 would be funded at 50% of the funding, this is to recognise that some costs could be incurred at this stage. 

The 50% funding would still be distributed via the same method, but the condition weighting would be reset to 1.0.

The reduction of the funding would be used towards the borrowing required to fund new schools, over the lifetime of the loan. This was agreed by Council in October 2016.

·         The consultation paper includes details of the reduction in funding per school.

·         The consultation responses were presented to the School Budget Forum on the 23^rd November 2017. There were 19 responses and the summary is detailed below:

            19 Reponses:

-       10 agreed

-       4 disagreed

-       2 Reponses said statutory maintenance should still be funded. This would be the case; this part of the formula remains unchanged. 

-       3 agreed, but said the funding should be redistributed to schools and not used to fund the borrowing.

·         The School Budget Forum raised concerns that not all maintenance costs will be reduced in a new build.  There are routine maintenance costs that will remain, such as PAT testing and routine cyclical maintenance.  The forum asked that this funding remains in place to allow these works to be funded.

·         As a result, the proposal is to fund the schools indicated below, to cover these costs:

·         Therefore the total savings would reduce for the original proposed £176,255 to £116,570. The funding will be based on the previous year’s costs from property services as the actual costs are not known until the start of the year.

Member Scrutiny:

·         Service contracts figures have been provided via the Property Services Department, as this department provides service level agreements to schools and detail every element of cost.

·         In terms of the maintenance, after the five year period, there will be an element of maintenance being provided.  It is the responsibility of the Governing bodies to maintain their schools and it would be anticipated that the maintenance would be used in the proper way.

·         Cyclical maintenance figures are reviewed and updated annually via the property services Department.

·         Chepstow Comprehensive School is expected to be a key part of the Band B proposals.  If there were to be flexibility in the programme then the Authority would look to fund additional pieces of work that is required in Chepstow Comprehensive School.

·         Welsh Government releases programme funding in tranches A-D. The Authority wants to make sure that Chepstow Comprehensive School plans are ready so that it can start as soon as Band C becomes available.  Development work will be ongoing alongside Band B but the funding will be available in Band C.