Agenda and minutes

That the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 6 January 2014 be confirmed and signed as an accurate record of the proceedings, and that the outstanding actions be noted.

There were no apologies for absence.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter.  The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Audit, Pensions and Standards Committee. 

There were no declarations of interest.

Councillor Cooney stated that the legal advice she had been given was that she does not have any interest to declare but in the interest of transparency she would like to mention that she knows a lot of people who are involved with schools some of whom are friends.  For example, she knows Councillor Steve Hamilton, who is a Governor at Sulivan School, whom she had worked with for four years.  She has known Arabella Northey, who is a founding member of Fulham Boys School, for many years.  The position of Fulham Boys School is not a material consideration for this decision.  There is a long list of members of Governing bodies plus teachers whom she has trained whilst she had lectured on the OCR Level 5 – Teaching Understanding Learners with specific learning difficulties who she may still see occasionally. 

None of these contacts have influenced her work with the proposals. She does not consider that she has any interest to declare under the Code of Conduct, as a significant interest.  The legal advice received was that she does not have to withdraw from the decision being made.

Councillor Lisa Homan mentioned that she is an ex Governor and ex parent of Sulivan school.

The Leader welcomed those present to the meeting and outlined the order of business.  He assured the attendees that the meeting would be chaired fairly and in an even-handed and fair manner, providing an opportunity for people to speak and ask questions.

Councillor Binmore, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, gave a presentation setting out the reasons for the amalgamation of New Kings and Sulivan Schools, relating primarily to the issue of spare places.  She noted that the amalgamation will offer real educational benefits to parents and provide parental choice.  Part of the proposed £3.8 million investment in New Kings will secure a state of the art science laboratory.  The rebuilt New Kings will have better facilities including a specialist science suite, multi-sensory facilities, and a wider curriculum for the children, with lower overall running costs. It would be able to deliver a broader specialist science curriculum with its new junior laboratory.  The New Kings site was chosen because it is a solid Victorian building (purpose built) for 2 classes per year.  The Sulivan School condition survey showed that it would require compete rebuilding costing around £6 million.  This higher level of expenditure would deprive other schools of much needed investment.  Therefore, taking into consideration all these factors, the amalgamation of New Kings and Sulivan Schools on the New Kings site make sense.

Councillor Cooney, Cabinet Member for Education, spoke about the proposed Special Needs provision for children at both schools.  She noted that the permanent move to the New Kings School would be particularly positive for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.  The best practice was to speak to individual parents about meeting their child’s needs.  A comprehensive Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) had been carried out and a detailed action plan produced.  The impact would be positive on the children once on the permanent New Kings site as additional resources would be provided, along with specialist intervention teachers.  Economics of scale will release extra funding to invest in the children’s education.

Andrew Christie, Executive Director for Children’s Services, gave a presentation outlining the key reason for proposing to amalgamate New King’s and Sulivan Schools.  He informed the meeting of a minor amendment to the report on page 22 regarding the equalities implications.  He clarified that the Council had sought Counsel’s advice on the matter.  

He outlined the key reasons as follows:-

• Surplus Places

There were currently spare places in almost every year group in both schools, which were within 10 minutes’ walking distance of each other.  Considering the residency of the pupils attending both schools in January 2013, it was demonstrated that almost all pupils live close by the two schools.

• Spare Places In Fulham

The last school census figures (October 2013) showed that classes across the year groups were not full in a number of Fulham’s primary schools, including Sulivan and New King’s. There were 500 spare places currently in the south of the borough, compared to 166 in the north and 289 in the centre of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 145.

The Forward Plan was noted.