1.                  The Director of Services for Children and Young People will submit a report a review of capital allocations was undertaken by Partnership for Schools. Following the review, capital allocations of £11.5m for All Saints Academy, Plymouth and £9.5m for Marine Academy, Plymouth were approved in May 2011.

1.1.            PfS have indicated that the funding allocated is reliant on the procurement being through the Academies Framework administered by Partnership for Schools, managed through the Council. This was reinforced through a meeting with the Director for Services for Children and Young People and the Director for Corporate Support on 21 May 2011. 

1.2.            As the Academies are separate organisations to Plymouth City Council there is no financial advantage to the Council in acting as the procurement agents. The condition liability of the schools falls to the Academies and the government so there is no direct reduction of liability that this investment would bring.  However the wider benefit to the city that such an investment would bring to the Council is significant. The capital investment would improve the school environments and bring up to current legislation the building fabric.

1.3.            The City Council is a co- sponsor of these Academies which means that it retains an influence and a responsibility to support these organisations as partners in the important object of serving some of the most disadvantaged communities in the city. The Council has been fully involved in making the case to Government that these schools need capital investment to resolve long standing condition issues and to modernise their environments.

1.4.            Both All Saints and Marine Academy have achieved substantial gains in attainment since becoming Academies but there remains much more to achieve. It is therefore recommended that the Council should support these projects by acting as the responsible body in the capital delivery and to therefore secure this investment for the city.

The Director of Services for Children and Young People submitted a written report on the capital investment delivery for the Marine Academy Plymouth and All Saints Academy, Plymouth.

The report stated that –

Agreed that the Council is the procurement agent for the delivery of the design and construction programmes at the Marine Academy Plymouth and All Saints Academy, Plymouth, in accordance with the schemes approved by Partnership for Schools.

(In the absence of the Chair, the Vice Chair took the Chair for this item.)