A report by the Director of Children’s Services requested the Cabinet’s approval of the required Outline Business Case for capital works at Birkenhead High School for Girls Academy and to underwrite any affordability gap that might occur in the replacement and refurbishment scheme at Birkenhead High School Academy under the Partnerships for Schools (PfS) Academy programme - that commitment being a requirement of the Council’s Outline Business Case with approval needed by Partnerships for Schools (PfS) prior to the Invitation to Tender (ITT) being released to Framework Contractors.

The Cabinet noted that the original intention was that the Outline Business Case should form part of a combined bid for capital funding along with the other Academy proposals, now withdrawn.  The capital funding for Birkenhead High School Academy was a self-contained proposal, the merits of which were not dependent or connected in any way with the other Academy proposals.  Therefore, the Cabinet required the business case to reflect this.

The Cabinet further required all costs to be kept within estimates and any deviation to be funded from within the resources being made available for this project to ensure no financial burden fell on Council Tax payers with regard to the proposal.

RESOLVED - That, subject to the above, the following be approved:

(1)  the Council confirms its approval for the Capital Investment at Birkenhead High School Academy;

(2)  written confirmation to Partnerships for Schools that any funding gap will be underwritten by the Council;

(3)  the relevant Section 151 officer letter, as required by PfS, be drawn up and submitted to PfS; and

(4)  further approval be given for the Council to sign the relevant Collateral Warranties in respect of various surveys carried out as part of the scheme development and accept the warranted report on title from the Girl’s Day School Trust.