Thus far, Better Schools - A Better Tomorrow has been developed with the Deputy Director of Education acting as Project Sponsor, backed up by expertise in the LEA’s sites and buildings section and supplemented with the services of an employed external consultant.

Internal Services have been briefed and prepared, including:

• planning
• finance
• legal
• architectural consultancy
• estates
• human resources
• transport
• corporate asset management

All first and second tier Council managers have been briefed and are prepared. Service plans now factor in the cross-cutting intentions of BSBT This plan also underpins one of the key council priorities identified in the Corporate Business plan: ‘The Council will reduce the gap between the educational achievement of our children and those in the best areas of the country.’

The Council has already demonstrated capacity to deliver, for example:

• A Fresh-Start Primary school replacing two ‘failing schools’ at Nunsthorpe. New Build project procured along traditional lines. Project Value approx. 3.4 million pounds.
  
• A NEC partnering contract to deliver new build classrooms on four independent school sites. Project value 1 million pounds. Currently in progress.
  
• The NEC partnering contract to deliver an amalgamated Infants and Primary School on to one site. This project involves a 1.7 million pound modernisation and rebuilding of one of the existing buildings and temporarily moving the school to an alternative location.
  
• The establishment of new build replacement primary school buildings at East Ravendale. This project is in an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and was in opposition to local planning guidelines. Planning Approval has been gained and supported by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. This project totalling approx. 2.3 million pounds is being procured via a partnering contract.
  
• The establishment of new build associated with an Early Excellence Centre, now moving towards a Children’s Centre.
  
• The authority’s Economic Regeneration Department has acted as lead development body on the creation of a large business park on the outskirts of the town. This has involved the creation of a large business centre and the associated infrastructure of roads etc, to facilitate inward investment into the area.
  
• The authority has undertaken to outsource its operational Leisure Services. A private contractor in partnership with the Local Authority now operates these Services. This arrangement covers service operation as well as facility management and responsibility.
  
• The authority has successfully developed an old railway line to provide a main arterial route into the centre of the town. This is known as Peaks Parkway. It has given the authority experience of undertaking a major engineering and logistics project with many problematic issues. This project has taken a number of years to complete due to the complexity and legal issues. However it has developed a knowledge base within the authority.

In - house expertise will be used to deliver the proposals in BSBT. However, the scale of this project is recognised as beyond local capacity. The Council has set aside £350,000 p.a. over the three-year implementation period to buy in outside consultancy in order to deliver the project on time. This will be used variously as ‘back-fill’ or ‘lead’ depending on available expertise in each service. The project management structure is planned and ready to put into place.

Through the engagement with partners additional funding streams through Health, SRB, New Opportunities Fund (specifically for community recreational facilities) are lined up and ready to add more value to this project.

The preferred pattern of provision, now known as the Blueprint, was assessed as an option appraisal, against nine options by applying the following criteria:
parental preference; geographical distribution; proximity to population; size of existing estate; size of school; 14-19 continuity; transitional disruption and cost of option.

The authority recognises that not all the funding through Building Schools for the Future will be PFI Credits. Through work completed for a previous PFI bid the authority is aware of the positives / negatives and time-scale involved in PFI proposals. Procurement options were appraised in accordance with the Treasury Green Book guidance. Appraisal of PFI procurement and a public sector comparitor assuming traditional procurement shows that the PFI option incurs a lower net present value over a period of 25 years, transfers risk from the authority and demonstrates better value for money. The authority is concerned that it does not want to have a two-tier funding and maintenance system for its secondary schools. The schools that receive their investment through traditional means may need including in a facilities maintenance contract to ensure similar standards to any PFI proposals. This also ensures that the capital investment by traditional means is maximised and its value maintained into the future.