Purpose

The report will set out Surrey County
Council’s (SCC) Capital Strategy and focus for utilising
Surrey County Council’s share of the government’s High
Needs Provision Capital Allocations Grant (HNPCA), the funding
alternative offer for the three Special Free Schools. It provides
an overview of the current SEND and Alternative Provision (AP)
Capital Programme, details of the grant allocation, proposed
projects, strategic benefits, and financial impact
summary.

Content

RESOLVED:
 
1.   
That Cabinet approves the use of the 2025/26 High
Needs Provision Capital Allocations (HNPCA) Grant of £16.14
million, to deliver the proposed projects in Annex 1
creating additional specialist places for the academic year
2026/27.
 
2.   
That Cabinet approves the delegation of authority to
the Executive Director of Children Families and Lifelong Learning
in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children, Families and
Lifelong Learning to approve smaller projects within the £1
million budget allocation in Annex 1. This is to allow for
additional places through minor adaptions across SEN Units,
Specialist Schools, and Specialist Support in Mainstream Schools.
This is in addition to the existing delegation of authority to
allocate resources from the approved SEND and AP Capital budgets
required for individual projects over £1 million to the
Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning,
following Capital Property Panel’s (CPP) financial scrutiny
and endorsement.
 
3.   
That Cabinet delegates authority to the Executive
Director Resources and Section 151 officer, in consultation with
the Director of Land and Property, to finalise and approve the
terms of all associated legal contracts and agreements to
facilitate the recommendations in this paper and approves
procurement of the supply chain for the delivery of all associated
services required, in accordance with the Council’s
Procurement and Contract Standing Orders.
 
4.   
That Cabinet approves the recommendation
to:
·        
Proceed with plans for DfE delivery of
the180 place Free School, Betchwood
Vale Academy, therefore, not accepting the Department for Education
(DfE) offer of £9.72 million to secure alternative
arrangements for commissioning at least 180 places (at
£54,000 per place).
 
·        
Proceed with plans for DfE delivery of
the 170 place Free School, Frimley Oak Academy, therefore, not
accepting the Department for Education (DfE) £9.18 million
offer to secure alternative arrangements for commissioning at least
170 places (at £54,000 per place).
 
·        
Agree with the DfE proposal not to
proceed with the proposed South East Special Free School and
confirm that there are no exceptional circumstances as to why it
should proceed (as required by the DfE). This will result in
funding of £8.1 million from the DfE to deliver 150
specialist places in Surrey. This also creates the opportunity to
release a further £3 million of SCC capital funding
currently allocated and approved in SEND Capital budget allocation
for 2027/28 to site clearance.
 
Reasons for
Decisions:
 
High Needs
Programme Capital Allocation
·        
SCC’s priorities for deploying the HNPCA
aligns with its Inclusion and Additional Needs Partnership
Strategy
Surrey Inclusion and Additional Needs Strategy
2023-2026 and SEND Sufficiency
Strategy
2022 -2030 Children and young people with additional
needs and disabilities sufficiency plan
generating a positive impact on outcomes for Surrey
resident children and young people with additional needs and
disabilities, as well as improving Surrey’s future unitary
authorities’ financial sustainability following Local
Government Reorganisation and Devolution.
 
·        
Establishing additional school places in specialist
schools, and SEN Units/Resourced provision is business critical to
ensure SCC discharges its statutory duties under Section 3 of the
Local Government Act 1999, Sections 13 and 14 of the Education Act
1996 and Part 27 Section 3 of the Children and Families Act
2014.
 
·        
The funding for existing projects and a further
identified need for re-location (shown in Table 1 of
Annex 1) re-provides existing Alternative Provision places,
ensuring that current provision is sustained. The projects in
Table 2 of Annex 1 propose 220 additional specialist
places alongside £1 million capital allocation for further
additional places through proposed minor adaptions across existing
SEN Units, Specialist Schools and for Specialist Support in
Mainstream Schools.
 
·        
We continue to work with schools and trusts to
utilise existing building capacity and encourage new proposals and
ideas to provide additional specialist places. The type of
provision in Annex 1 is based on need, school capacity and
readiness alongside the potential to deliver places in academic
year 2026/27. Progression of projects is subject to feasibility
studies, planning processes, further permissions and formal
agreements with Academy Trusts. Where delivery is not possible
re-allocation to similar solutions will be considered through the
delegated authority at Capital Programme Panel, and Cabinet Member
decision for projects over £1 million, to ensure delivery of
additional specialist places in academic year 2026/27.
 
DfE
Specialist Free Schools Alternative Funding Offer
·        
The options appraisal that informs the
recommendations set out in this report regarding the DfE
alternative funding offer is provided in Annex 2.
 
·        
Of the three proposed new Surrey Specialist Free
Schools, two have Trusts appointed. The Howard Partnership Trust
was appointed for Betchwood Vale
Academy, and London South East Academies Trust for Frimley Oak
Academy. For these schools, SCC has been given the option of
continuing with the planned new school projects, funded and
delivered by the DfE, or opting for a capital funding settlement of
£18.9 million, in addition to the annual High Needs Provision
Capital Allocation, to deliver the same number of places in a
different way.
 
·        
The Secretary of State for Education has suggested
that planned specialist free schools which do not have a Trust
appointed, such as the designated Social Emotional and Mental
Health (SEMH) Specialist Free School should not proceed. Therefore,
capital funding of £8.1 million will be provided to SCC
instead to deliver the same number of places in a different
way.
 
·        
The DfE delivery of the two schools would ensure an
additional 350 places across two Specialist Schools in Surrey. 180
places in East Surrey and 150 places in West Surrey. This will be
in addition to the smaller projects already proposed under the
HNPCA Grant. The £8.1 million proposed by the DfE, in lieu of
a third specialist free school, gives the opportunity for further
projects including SEN Units in mainstream schools, satellite sites
of specialist schools and planned second phases to create
additional places in existing projects.

·        
The £8.1 million DfE funding will focus on
delivering projects to meet needs and geographies where forecast
demand is greatest, for example, ASC provision in the West of the
county. SCC will explore potential sites with schools and settings
where it is feasible to deliver provision within the required
timeframe, based on site capacity, school readiness, and capital
availability.
 
(The decisions on
this item can be called-in by the Children, Families, Lifelong
Learning & Culture Select Committee)