To approve the spend of the High Needs Provision Capital Grant and Special and Alternative Provision Free School Alternative Places Grant to extend our inclusion offer in mainstream schools, increase places for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and to improve Alternative Provision (AP) education arrangements.

That: a) Approval is given to spend up to £9.162m of Department for Education (DfE) capital grant funding, comprising £5.362m High Needs Provision Capital Grant 2025–2027 and £3.8m Special and Alternative Provision Free School Alternative Places Grant, to support the delivery of additional Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) capacity in Herefordshire;

b) Approval is given for the programme to include, but not be limited to, the expansion of Westfield School, the development of support bases in mainstream schools, and the acquisition, assembly, adaptation or refurbishment of suitable council-owned or purchased land and/or buildings to create additional SEND capacity; and

c) Authority is delegated to the Service Director for Education, Learning and Skills to take all operational decisions necessary, including the award of contracts, to deliver and vary the programme within the approved budget, including the use of any further Department for Education high needs, SEND or equivalent capital grant awards up to 2029-30 that are added to the capital programme by the Section 151 Officer.

1.     Do not approve expenditure of the grant funding. This option is not recommended. Herefordshire continues to experience increasing demand for SEND places. Without further investment in local capacity, the council would be more reliant on independent, non maintained, unregistered, or out-of-county provision, which is generally higher cost and can result in children and young people travelling further from their local communities. The position is that additional local capacity is required to support sufficiency, inclusion and cost avoidance.

2.     Approve a fixed list of named schemes only. This option is not recommended. Although there are clear intended programme priorities, individual scheme costs and delivery routes remain subject to feasibility, site availability, statutory approvals, procurement, Department for Education design development and final cost certainty. In particular, the council contribution required for the proposed expansion of Westfield School cannot be confirmed until the Department for Education’s School Rebuilding Programme design work has progressed sufficiently to identify the cost difference between the baseline rebuild and an expanded scheme. A fixed scheme list or fixed allocation at this stage would reduce the council’s ability to respond to changing demand, affordability and deliverability.