Agenda and minutes

Any county councillor may, by giving notice to the Proper Officer by 9 am two working days before the meeting, ask a question on any matter in respect of the Cabinet Member’s delegated powers.

The number of questions which may be asked by any councillor at any one meeting is limited to two (or one question with notice and a supplementary question at the meeting) and the time for questions will be limited to 30 minutes in total. As with questions at Council, any questions which remain unanswered at the end of this item will receive a written response.

Questions submitted prior to the agenda being despatched are shown below and will be the subject of a response from the appropriate Cabinet Member or such other councillor or officer as is determined by the Cabinet Member, and shall not be the subject of further debate at this meeting. Questions received after the despatch of the agenda, but before the deadline, will be shown on the Schedule of Addenda circulated at the meeting, together with any written response which is available at that time.

Forward Plan Ref: 2011/077

Contact: Barbara Chillman, Principal Officer – School Organisation & Planning Tel: (01865) 816459

Report by Director for Children, Education & Families (CMDSI4).

At the meeting on 19 April 2011 the Cabinet Member for Schools Improvement agreed to the publication of formal proposals to expand Charlton Primary School from 1.5-form entry to 2-form entry.   The statutory notice was published by the Authority in the Wantage Herald on 11 May 2011 and expired following 4 weeks of formal consultation on 08 June 2011.

The decision-making power in terms of determining the notice lies with the Cabinet or can be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Schools Improvement (if there have been no objections). In meeting as ‘decision-maker’ the Cabinet or Cabinet Member must have regard to government guidance and statutory timescales otherwise a decision can be referred to the independent Schools’ Adjudicator for reconsideration. The Cabinet decision must be made within 2 months of the close of the notice period; as a consequence, it is necessary for the Chairman of the Council to determine that the decision cannot be subject to ‘call-in’ as this would, in most cases, prevent a decision being finalised within the required timescale and mean that the Cabinet’s role would be negated by referral to the Schools’ Adjudicator.

As no representations in relation to the proposal have been received the decision is referred to the Cabinet Member for Schools Improvement. The proposed implementation date for the proposal is 1 September 2012.

The Cabinet Member for Schools Improvement is RECOMMENDED to either:

(a)               reject the proposals;

(b)              approve the proposals;

(c)               approve the proposals with a modification (e.g. the proposal implementation date); or

(d)              approve the proposals subject to them meeting a specific condition.

The Cabinet Member for Schools Improvement approved the proposals to expand Charlton Primary School from 1.5 – form entry to 2- form entry.