To approve the approach and recommendations within the attached (Appendix 1) ‘Herefordshire Capital Investment Strategy 2021-2030 for specialist settings educating children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)’ and for Herefordshire Council to support implementation of the proposed capital improvements to specialist SEND education accommodation therein.

That:

a)    Cabinet adopts the approach and recommendations within the ‘Herefordshire Capital Investment Strategy 2021-2030 for specialist settings educating children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)’ (hereafter referred to as ‘the strategy’)

1.    There are no alternative options to the above recommendations that avoid unnecessary reactive spending on accommodation maintenance, and mitigate the risk of a reduction in the quality of education and a lack of pupil places for SEND children and young people with education health and care plans. However Cabinet could decide not to agree the approach and investment proposed in the strategy. The advantage to this would be that there would be no immediate requirement for prudential borrowing for investment. It is proposed that this is not the chosen option, as the disadvantages of a lack of planned improvement to these settings would be to: increase commissioning of specialist places out of county for SEND pupils, incurring higher cost and greater travel implications for children; increase reactive maintenance spending which would not propose good value use of funds, and; increase risks to good health and safety of pupils within deteriorating school buildings.