ITEM CA12
FULL CABINET –
SCHOOL ORGANISATION
ARRANGEMENTS
Report by Director
for Children Young People & Families
Introduction
1.
The Cabinet on 15 May received a report outlining changes in respect of
decision making on school organisation. As a result of the Education &
Inspections Act 2006 School Organisation Committees were abolished on 31st May and a new role was given to local authorities as “decision maker” on school
organisation matters
2.
The Cabinet resolved to:-
(a)
Accept the principles as outlined in the report;
(b)
Request officers seek the views and comments of all stake holders
currently represented on the School Organisation Committee; and
(c)
Agree final procedures to replace SOC at
Consultation
3.
Given the timescales involved it was not
possible to carry out a consultation to enable a report to be produced by 20th June, so an update is brought to this meeting. In addition to consultation with stakeholders that were represented on
the School Organisation Committee and given the proposal to consider including
District and City Council representatives on the group, the District Council's
and City Council have been involved in the consultation and the proposals are
being discussed at Bilateral meetings between the Districts, City and the
County.
4.
The consultation paper appears at Annex 1 (download as .pdf file) and asks a series of
questions for which consultees were asked to respond
to:-
1.
Given the purpose of the group do you think this is the right
membership to provide different perspectives on school organisation matter?
2.
The District Councils were not represented on the School Organisation
Committee but it is accepted that they have a strategic role to play in their
communities. Should they be represented,
and if so, by officers or elected Members?
3.
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied at the remit of the group to provide
advice on overall strategic matters as well as individual proposals?
4.
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the proposal for the frequency
of meetings?
5.
In the light of this should the group make formal recommendations or
simply have comments noted with the strength of that advice recorded? This is important as it impacts on the size
and nature of the group.
6.
If there are no formal recommendations would it be appropriate for an
officer to chair/co-ordinate the group?
7.
Is it appropriate that the group’s role in looking at proposals to be
limited to looking at written evidence only and not hearing verbal
representations?
8.
Are you happy or unhappy for comments made at the meeting to be
presented to the Schools Adjudicator in the event of an appeal against the
County Council’s decision?
5.
This report was produced before the final
deadline for receiving consultation responses. Comments and specific recommendations regarding membership and terms of
reference matters will be reported to this meeting.
Procedural Issues
6.
It was accepted at the meeting of the 15 May
that decisions on statutory proposals would be considered by the Cabinet Member for Schools’ Improvement
if there were no objections to proposals but would be referred to The Cabinet
should there be objections.
(i)
Voting arrangements - the usual convention is for a simple majority
to apply on any vote, there is no reason
to suppose School Organisation matters should be treated any differently.
(ii)
Inclusion in the Forward Plan –
a “key decision” is one made by The Cabinet that involves large amounts of
money, either spending or saving or involves more that one division. Clearly the majority of school organisation
matters will be key decisions because the proposals will often have significant
financial implications and the catchment area of the
school will often straddle two or more divisions and so must be publicised in
advance through the Forward Plan. There
may be a technical difficulty around scheduling a delegated decision for the
Cabinet Member for Schools’ Improvement only to find that shortly beforehand
that it is required to refer to Full Cabinet because of an objection. This can be overcome by carefully timed
deadlines and scheduling of meetings.
(iii)
Addressing the decision maker or presenting a
petition – It must be possible for a member of public
to address either a Cabinet Member or The Cabinet and present a petition. That being the case, then some structure
needs to be in place to deal with such requests. It has been suggested that this can be done
by the committee officers in the usual way and subject to the existing
provision in the Council’s constitution, ie address
the decision maker for no more than five minutes or present a petition and
speak for no more than three minutes in support.
(iv)
“Call-in” of decisions –
the decisions of The Cabinet are subject to “call-in”
unless the process at “rule 17, Appendix 1 to Section F” of the Constitution is
followed. This process allows for the
Chairman of the Council to agree that in all circumstances the decision should
be treated as a matter of urgency and not subject to call in. A decision is “urgent” if any delay likely to
be caused by the call in process will seriously prejudice the Council’s or the public’s interests. Proposals for school organisation need to be considered and determined
within set timelines laid down in government legislation which does not allow
for call in procedures to take place as this would seriously jeopardise the
ability of the County Council to carry out its duties. In the case of school proposals any delay may
cause an automatic referral to the independent adjudicator because of non
determination. This may prejudice the
public’s interests if the adjudication process is a lengthy one; it might also
prejudice the council’s interests for the same reason and is not in the spirit
of the Act which is intended to enable local authorities to take a strategic
lead in decision making.
Financial
Implications
7.
The School Organisation Committee although
independent of the County Council was
administered by the County Council and costs were met by the County
Council. The new arrangements will be
managed by Children, Young People and Families rather than Democratic Services
though most reports in the past have been initiated and produced by the
Directorate. It is therefore anticipated
that there are no additional financial implications for the County Council in
taking these proposals forward.
RECOMMENDATIONS
8.
The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED
to
(a)
agree the Membership and
terms of reference of the proposed school organisation stakeholder group; and
(b)
agree the procedural arrangements for making school organisation decision as
outlined in the report.
JANET TOMLINSON
Director for Children Young People & Families
Background papers: Education
and Inspections Act 2006
Contact Officer: Michael Mill, Strategic Manager (Property
and Assets), Tel: (01865) 816458
July
2007
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