Untitled

Councillor Josh Cook asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Schools:
Does the Portfolio Holder agree with me that Government policy on school place provision is
contradictory? Isnt it nonsensical to give Councils the legal duty to provide adequate school places
whilst at the same time banning them from opening new schools?
Councillor Sam Webster responded as follows:
Thank you Lord Mayor. Im grateful that Councillor Cook has so concisely captured both the
contradiction and nonsense at the heart of the Governments policy on the provision of school
places. Councillor Cook is correct in identifying that the council retains a legal duty to ensure there
are sufficient school places. And as Council is well aware, we have been very successfully delivering
a programme of school expansion to meet the needs of our growing population since 2010.
By 2017 we will have added 4,000 additional primary school places at a cost of 33m. This is
the equivalent of creating 10 new primary schools. But we have done this by a mixture of
expanding existing school buildings, recommissioning and regenerating old buildings and
building new school premises.
We have worked with schools to ensure that the disruption to existing pupils is minimised and that
works are timed to avoid any unnecessary additional closure days. The Department for Educations
school place scorecard shows that Nottingham has delivered all of this at a cost that is 5% below
that of the national average. We have also delivered outstanding learning environments that
enhance the educational experience of pupils and staff. Furthermore we been able to respond to our
equalities commitments and fund the expansion of two of the citys special schools, to respond to the
growing demand for places for children and young people with disabilities and special educational
needs.
Under the previous coalition government, the ability of local authorities to respond to local school
place needs was squeezed by a combination of austerity funding and legislative red tape. But by a
combination of creativity, determination to deliver our own solutions, and financial underwriting by
the Council, we were able to deliver the primary programme.
It is true to say that this Council has an excellent track record of school place planning, and
delivering high quality school building projects on budget, and on time. Sadly the current
Conservative Government has now made much clearer their hostility to Local Authorities meeting the
needs of their own communities; by insisting that any new school is a Free School. In doing this
they have removed the power and are withholding the financial resources to Councils to plan and
deliver the solutions they need. A totally nonsensical situation, as Councillor Cook rightly highlights
in his question, driven completely by ideology, ignoring evidence, ignoring local accountability, and,
lets be honest, ignoring basic common sense. And at what point do they introduce this nonsensical
Free Schools only policy? Exactly at the time when we need to plan to expand secondary schools to
accommodate the much larger numbers of pupils who will need secondary school places. We only
need to look to the recent history of Free School developments in the city to see cause for concern if
this is our only option.
There have been three applications made to open mainstream Free Schools in the City. But only one
has ever opened. Of the two other proposed schools due to open, one was pulled by the Secretary
of State 6 months before they hoped to admit pupils (and following 18 months of planning). And the
other only 4 months before it was due to open and after places had been offered to pupils; leaving
the City Council Admissions team to find new places at short notice for disappointed pupils and
parents.
If Free Schools are the only solution available it causes me great concern that I hold the
responsibility to deliver sufficient places but without the powers needed to ensure that it happens. I
have always held the view that the governments Free Schools policy is wasteful. As with so many
of this governments policies, it fails to meet local needs; it allocates funds for new schools in areas
where there isnt demand for extra school places. To put ideology before the interests of childrens
education really is shocking. No-one could deny that local Councils are best placed to meet local
needs. So absurd is the Free Schools Only policy, even Conservatives in local government
are opposed to them.
I draw the Councils attention to the recent words of Councillor Roy Perry, Tory Leader of Hampshire
County Council. Councillor Perry is also Chair of the LGA Children and Young Peoples Board. Last
week, on the eve of the National Secondary School Offer day, Councillor Perry said:
Councils find themselves in the difficult position of not being able to ensure schools, including
academies, expand. Finding suitable sponsors with the capacity to take on the running of a
successful new school is also proving a challenge
"Creating an extra 300,000 primary places is a demonstrable record that councils will do everything
they can to rise to the challenge of ensuring no child goes without a place, but all schools must play
their part too. If academies are not willing to expand, then the powers to create new schools should
be returned to local authorities.
In our Council Plan we have made clear our commitment to increase the choice and ability of
parents to access local, good and outstanding school places as we know this is what really matters
to Nottingham people. However, across the political spectrum, at a local level, there is clear
agreement that it is a ludicrous situation that councils are being denied the power to meet the needs
of providing school places for their local communities. Needs that they clearly understand better
than politicians and civil servants in Whitehall; and needs that have previously proven they are well
able to meet given the freedom and resources to do so.

Untitled

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Untitled

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Untitled

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Councillor Josh Cook asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Schools:

Councillor Sam Webster responded as follows:

You might also like