Agenda item

This report sets out the opportunities, challenges and viability of this local authority establishing a Teckal company with schools, Multi Academy Trust (MATs) and stand-alone academies working in partnership to provide high quality services to schools in B&NES in the future.

Councillor Liz Hardman called for the Council to be bold and innovative regarding this matter and to protect the good services we have, such as School Improvement to name but one and to be able to work with and support our maintained schools.

She asked if the Council could drive this proposal forward with the maintained schools and also reach out to MATS to possibly include them, but not at the expense of maintained schools which still make up almost 50% of schools in B&NES.

She thanked Stone King for providing such a comprehensive report to the Panel.

Councillor Alison Millar asked how much the report had cost.

The Stone King representative replied that the report cost was £2,500 plus VAT.

The Chair said that she would like this matter to move much faster than the provided timeline has suggested.

Councillor Michael Evans said a Green Paper was due and that it would be foolish to do any work before seeing it.

Councillor Paul May said that as a Board Member of Sirona he would urge a note of caution, but said that he generally support the role of Community Interest Companies.

The Chair commented that all Primary schools would be stakeholders and that any surplus generated would be used for the benefit of the schools and the community.

The Head of Education Transformation said that Academies were looking to purchase School Improvement services. She added that officers would need to have discussions with schools; MATs and stand-alone academies to determine their commitment to a shared service arrangement and identify how this vehicle would be project managed. She added that it may be possible in the first instance to establish a virtual shared service vehicle facilitated by officers in the local authority.

Councillor Sally Davis said that she was aware that not all schools want to become Academies and urged the Council to act quickly or not at all.

The Stone King representative commented that there are a variety of planning models available for achieving effective shared services. She said that a formal company structure had the added benefit in offering greater stability and would establish a level of commitment and certainty which would be missing from an informal collaboration.

The Head of Education Transformation commented that she felt that Teckal option was worth pursuing and that swift action and an identification of funding was required. She added that the services would need to be affordable to purchase for the schools involved. She questioned if the Regional Schools Commissioner could be approached regarding funding.

The Stone King representative replied that seed funding had been given in this respect by other Regional Schools Commissioner’s.

Councillor Paul May said that an economy of scale was needed to take into account other services and capital assets.

The Head of Education Transformation replied that there was an initial focus on School Improvement as this had not been initially prioritised by Academies when they were being established. She added that the Council would need to be able to signpost schools should this project not come to fruition.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked what the next step in the process was that the Council could legitimately take.

The Head of Education Transformation replied that the Council could talk with potential partners; Primary Schools, MATs, Academies and local Diocese to establish the viability of the proposal, funding options and the scoping of a business plan.

The Chair said that she wanted this project to ensure that standards for our children within schools are as high as they can be.

Councillor Michael Evans said that he would need to establish what capacity there was available for this work. He added that the Government wants Councils to sustain local expertise.

The Chair requested that an interim report be given to the March 2017 Panel meeting and that a formal report be produced for the meeting in May 2017.

The Panel members agreed with this proposal.

Councillor Paul May commented that schools should be made aware of these proposals.

The Strategic Director for People and Communities replied that he would provide them with an update and said that they had been briefed previously through meetings of Head Teachers and Governors.