Budget Transfer from Central Planning Vote to Education, Sport and Culture: Public consultation on possible sites for replacement school at Les Quennevais

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A decision made 14 September 2015:

Decision Reference: MD-TR-2015-0096
Decision Summary Title :	Allocation of funds from Central Planning Vote to Education, Sport and Culture to fund a public consultation on possible sites for a replacement school at Les Quennevais.		Date of Decision Summary:	11 September 2015
Decision Summary Author:	Capital Accountant		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	Allocation of funds from Central Planning Vote to the Education, Sport and Culture to fund a public consultation on possible sites for a replacement school at Les Quennevais.		Date of Written Report:	11 September 2015
Written Report Author:	Capital Accountant		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: A non-recurring budget transfer in 2015 of £25,000 from the Central Planning Vote to the Education, Sport and Culture Department (ESC) Revenue head of expenditure in order to fund a public consultation on possible sites for a replacement school at Les Quennevais.
Decision(s): The Minister approved the non-recurring budget transfer in 2015 of £25,000 from the Central Planning Vote to the Education, Sport and Culture Department (ESC) Revenue head of expenditure.
Reason(s) for Decision: Article 18(1) (c) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 states that all or any part of the amount appropriated by a head of expenditure may, with the approval of the Minister for Treasury and Resources, be used for the purposes of another head of expenditure. This allocation has been agreed by the CMB capital sub-group via e-mail.
Resource Implications: The balance of the Central Planning Vote to decrease by £25,000 and the ESC Revenue head of expenditure to increase by an identical amount in 2015. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure that is requested for approval by the States in the MTFP 2016-2019 for the Les Quennevais capital project. Upon approval by the States of capital funding the amount received will be transferred back to the Central Planning Vote.
Action required: Head of Decision Support to notify the Capital Accountant (Treasury and Resources) and the Assistant Director, Policy and Strategy for ESC that this decision has been approved.
Signature:		Position: Senator A J H Maclean, Minister for Treasury and Resources
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Budget Transfer from Central Planning Vote to Education, Sport and Culture: Les Quennevais School Replacement Site Public Consultation

Treasury and Resources Department

Ministerial Decision Report

Allocation of funds from Central Planning Vote to the Education, Sport and Culture Department re Public consultation for Les Quennevais School

Purpose of Report

To enable the Minister to approve a non-recurring budget transfer in 2015 of £25,000 from the Central Planning Vote to the Education, Sport and Culture Department (ESC) in order to fund public consultation on proposed sites for a new Les Quennevais secondary school. The new school has been proposed for inclusion in the forward capital programme, and is listed in the Medium Term Financial Plan that was lodged ‘au Greffe’ by the Council of Ministers on 14th July 2015.This allocation has been agreed by the CMB capital sub-group via e-mail.

Background

The current Les Quennevais School premises were built in 1964 and opened in January the following year. The structures were refurbished in 1995-6 with work that focussed mainly on weatherproofing with cladding and did not significantly enlarge the teaching space. Portacabins have been in use for more than 17 years.

The deficiencies of the 1960s building were recognised at the turn of the century and in 2002 a feasibility study was carried out that recommended a refurbishment costing £7.5 million. Funding was set aside in the capital programme for 2005 but other projects took priority and the refurbishment was not carried out. Since then, the fabric of the building and its internal systems (particularly heating and drainage) have continued to deteriorate. It also contains significant amounts of asbestos containing materials, which are carefully managed.

In every major respect the current Les Quennevais School building falls short of the requirements of a modern secondary school. The building is too small for the number of pupils, which is due to be approximately 750 in autumn 2015 but has reached 800 in previous years. The site falls well short of the UK government’s recommended minimum size for a school with this number of pupils, and it measures approximately 14,000 square metres compared to the required 58,000 square metres.

The 2002 feasibility study was revisited in 2012, and was carried out by Jersey Property Holdings and Education, Sport and Culture. The study reviewed the plans for refurbishment/ rebuilding and concluded that the difficulties of the current site and the cost of refurbishment/remodelling (estimated at £26-28 million for basic construction works) meant that this was no longer a realistic option. It recommended that a new school should be constructed on another site that is yet to be determined, but the following site options having since been identified -

1. The south-east corner of Les Quennevais sports fields.

2. Green zone fields to the south of Rue Carree.

3. Green zone fields to the south of Rue Carree including the site currently used by St Brelade Social Club.

The case for a new school has been accepted by the ESC Minister and the Council of Ministers, and the Council has included this proposal in the dnd the and sion Supportl1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111raft Medium Term Financial Plan 2016-2019, published in July 2015. As stated on page 110 of the draft MTFP, it is proposed the budget of £40 million for this project should be ‘provided from a draw down from the Strategic Reserve’.

Public Consultation

Given the scale and significance of this project, the ESC Minister and Department are of the view that a public consultation is necessary in order to identify the best option for a site for the new school. It is accordingly proposed that a public consultation exercise should take place during the autumn of 2015, following which a recommendation will be made to the ESC Minister as to the preferred site for a new school.

Details of the proposed public consultation are contained in a report that was presented to the Council of Ministers on 22nd July 2015.At this meeting the Council of Ministers accepted the recommendation in the report that it should ‘approve the general principle of the consultation and give political support for this to commence in September 2015.’

It is estimated the public consultation will cost no more than £25,000.

Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to approve a non-recurring budget transfer in 2015 of £25,000 from the Central Planning Vote to the ESC Revenue Head of Expenditure.

ESC will transfer £25,000 back to the Central Planning Vote when it receives its capital allocation of £39,000,000 for the project in 2017. Should the allocation for Les Quennevais School not be approved as part of the MTFP2 debate, the funds will be sourced elsewhere from within the ESC budget and repaid to the Central Planning Vote in 2017.

Reason for Decision

Article 18(1) (c) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2005 states that all or any part of the amount appropriated by a head of expenditure may, with the approval of the Minister for Treasury and Resources, be used for the purposes of another head of expenditure.

This allocation has been agreed by the CMB capital sub-group via e-mail.

Resource Implications

The balance of the Central Planning Vote to decrease by £25,000 and the ESC revenue head of expenditure to increase by an identical amount in 2015. This decision does not change the total amount of expenditure approved by the States for 2015. Upon approval by the States of capital funding the amount received will be transferred back to the Central Planning Vote.