(c) Scoraig Wind Turbine

The Committee HOMOLOGATED the action taken by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport, in consultation with the Chairman, in accepting a contract for the supply of equipment required to restore the wind turbine at Scoraig Primary School following storm damage. The Director of Property and Architectural Services had certified, in terms of Contract Standing Order 2(i), that the equipment was of a specialist type which could not readily be obtained from other suppliers. The cost of the equipment was £46,000, with a contribution of £13,000 from HIE.

(d) Lairg Local Learning Centre

Reference was made to the Lairg Local Learning Centre project which had been developed by a Local Management Committee and partner agencies. The overall cost of the project including professional fees was £83,502, which included a contingency element of £6,500. The Local Management Committee had secured external funding amounting to a final total of £75,500 which would cover the cost of the project provided that the full contingency sum was not required. One of the funding bodies had offered a further £2,000, if required, and the Learning Centre Committee had requested contributions from the Highland Council to the overall costs and to offset any shortfall. In addition, to facilitate progression of the project the Committee had requested that the Highland Council act as agent.

The Head of Support Services made a presentation on this item commenting on the importance of the Plan in achieving Best Value, Best Service and Quality Buildings. He pointed out that the Scottish Executive was committed to linking future allocations of funding to the priorities identified by local authorities in their School Estate Management Plans.

In discussion points raised included the following:-

· There was a need to set clear standards for school playgrounds, and for the condition of playgrounds to be included in the proposed audit. The audit should also take into account the condition of other community facilities which schools might continue to use by choice.

· Reference was made to the importance of "Smart" spending on sustainable and energy saving measures which might not necessarily be the cheapest option.

· On the suggestion that all schools required the services of a janitor/ maintenance person, the Director indicated that the provision of enhanced support staff for schools would be considered in relation to the McCrone agreement.

· There was support for the suggestion that the Service might seek to retain capital receipts, in particular to allow local solutions for local problems.

· The importance of "effective" stakeholders’ involvement was stressed and of there being a clear schedule of works to explain priorities.

· The hope was expressed that projects already in the programme would be delivered without being delayed for further assessment.

· It was suggested that the audit should take into account redundant buildings within school grounds such as bike sheds, boiler houses, chimneys etc.

· Newer schools should not be ignored as lessons could be learned from the experience of building recent schools.

· There was a need to ensure that provision was made for future maintenance requirements when new provision was made.

· The Director indicated that he would be preparing a report for the Council on the outcome of a management development project he had sponsored into the impact of demographic change on public services in the Highlands. He confirmed that current predictions of school rolls were generally reasonably accurate in respect of new housing but it was difficult to estimate the product of older housing.

· It was confirmed that the plan would be discussed at the Area Education Forums in the Autumn.

The Committee AGREED:

(i) the rationale for development of the Highland Schools Estate Management Plan as set out in paragraph 3.1 of the report;

(ii) the initial audit tools as set out in paragraph 3.2;

(iii) that further discussion on staffing issues take place between the Director of Education, Culture and Sport and the Director of Property and Architectural Services;

(iv) that discussions take place with the Director of Finance to identify future funding arrangements to support School Building Improvement; and

(v) the establishment of the Portfolio Holders Group as a strategic steering group to provide direction in the development of the overall School Estate Management Plan and, at a local level, operational stakeholder groups linked directly to individual projects, with local priorities being set by Area Committees.

There was circulated Report No ECS31/03 dated 5 August, 2003 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport on the policy priorities for the next four years published by the Scottish Executive following the elections in May in the document "Partnership for a Better Scotland". The report highlighted a number of proposals for Education, Culture and Sport which the Council needed to be aware of for future planning.

In discussion it was confirmed that provision was made at Inverness College for disabled students; that, where school used community facilities, these had been included in the audit; that strategies would have to be drawn up for other Council leisure centres and libraries and a matter raised in relation to provision in Caithness was being progressed. Members also suggested that officials draw to the attention of organisations applying for grants, the need to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act.

The Committee AGREED:-

(i) to adopt the Accessibility Strategy; and

During discussion reference was made to current concerns about standards attained in national testing and to the need for school boards and others to have benchmarks to compare schools’ performance.

After discussion, during which Committee Members spoke in support of the Associated Primary School Management model and the Area Education Manager, Skye and Lochalsh, commented on points raised, the Committee AGREED:-

(i) to note the progress made so far with the Associated Primary School Management model;

(ii) to approve the extension of this model to other groups of schools. as and when opportunities arose and the process of consultation had been completed successfully;

(iii) to approve further evaluation of the pilot;

(iv) to note a request from Newtonmore, Dalwhinnie and Laggan Primary Schools that the Council consider the joint working arrangements practised there as an alternative to the proposed model; and

(v) that information on the initiative be passed to all schools and school boards.

There was circulated Report No ECS35/03 dated 5 August, 2003 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport recommending a policy framework for how the Council might support festivals in the Highland Council area. It reviewed the current situation in the light of 2007, designated by the First Minister as a Year of Scotland Celebrating Highland Culture, and guidance from the Scottish Executive on producing a Highland Cultural Strategy. The report referred to the positive impact festivals could have on community well-being and suggested that a festival policy should seek to support, and not undermine, the strong community base that existing festivals had. A three tier structure of festivals was proposed, consisting of community festivals, Area festivals and a new Highland-wide festival. This would not replace the current Highland Festival, the aspirations of which were to continue to showcase the best of Highland and international arts, re-focusing on Inverness and the inner Moray Firth area in the first instance. The report set out proposals for creating the new festival which would build up to be Highland wide by 2007. Tier one, the community festivals would continue to be funded from existing resources. It was recommended that £34,000 held in the Headquarters grants budget and currently used to support the Highland Festival be diverted to the task of developing area and a Highland wide festival.

In discussion, Members generally supported the idea of a festivals policy but raised concerns in relation to the proposed withdrawal of funding from the Highland Festival. Points raised included the following:-

· While Members had had concerns about the Highland Festival in the past it was now beginning to take off and involved a total of 580 participants of whom 465 were from the Highlands.

· The Highland Festival was not confined to the Inverness Area but contributed to and developed events in other parts of the Highlands.

· The Festival had been very successful in attracting funding from public and private sources. While the Council’s grant of £34,000 represented only 8% of their budget, the withdrawal of this funding, which was 100% of current Council funding, might affect the confidence of other funders.

· The Council had supported and encouraged the Highland Festival and it seemed unfair that funding should be withdrawn now that the Festival was beginning to restructure along the lines discussed with Highland Council.

· The Council in April had decided to award grant to the Highland Festival in 2003/04 and that the position be monitored over the following six month period. Members wished to have a report on the outcome of this monitoring exercise before taking a decision.

· It was suggested that the Highland Festival could be a flagship for 2007 and it would be a retrograde step to withdraw funding from the Festival and lose the expertise which had been built up.

· Other Members referred to those parts of the Highland Council area, such as Skye and Lochalsh and Lochaber, where communities felt that they were not getting value for money from the Highland Festival. It was pointed out that Local Enterprise funding had been withdrawn for this reason.

· Reference was made to the Celtic Colours Festival in Nova Scotia which had inspired the current recommendations with regard to a Highland-wide festival. Details were given of the approach taken to this very successful festival, which had involved 700 volunteers based on local community groups. The management arrangements were outlined and it was reported that the Management Team had offered to assist in the development of a Highland-wide festival.

· It was suggested that there was already great enthusiasm for festivals in the Highlands which could be harnessed, but Members expressed reservations about removing funding from the existing Highland Festival when plans for the new Festival were not definite.

· It was pointed out that it was open to the Highland Festival to apply for funding from other Council budgets in Inverness and Ross and Cromarty although it was suggested that the sums available were limited.

· The Highland Festival organisers had themselves admitted that they could not cover the whole area.

· One member was concerned at the definition of festival used in the report and suggested that an Events Officer be appointed.

· Members stressed the need for consultation on the proposed Highland-wide festival and an amendment was suggested to the recommendation in this regard.

· It was confirmed that the consultation proposed would be carried out in-house and would not, therefore, involve the use of the £34,000.

The Committee AGREED that:-

(i) the principles of the report be adopted as a policy for festivals;

(ii) funding for community festivals continue;

(iii) work be undertaken to determine what support was needed for area festivals; and

(iv) consultation be undertaken on the need for and format of a Highland-wide community festival celebrating traditional culture.

Mrs J Urquhart referred to the importance of consultation and having a strategy in place but was concerned that to withdraw funding now from the Highland Festival pre-supposed that the outcome of the consultations would be in line with the proposals put forward. She, therefore, MOVED, seconded by Mrs S Slimon that a decision on the recommendation that the £34,000 currently identified in the Headquarters grants budget to support the Highland Festival be allocated to the purposes detailed above be deferred and a report be submitted to the November meeting of the Committee.

Mr N Clark, seconded by Dr M E M Foxley moved as an AMENDMENT that the recommendation regarding the future use of the £34,000 currently given as a grant to Highland Festival be approved.

On a vote being taken the outcome was as follows:-

For the Motion

Mr R Saxon
Mr A Milne
Mrs A L Magee
Mrs M A MacLennan
Mrs J Urquhart
Mr A J Dick
Mr R W Durham
Mr J Gray
Mr D Chisholm
Mrs J N Home
Ms A MacLean
Mr J N Matheson
Mrs I McCallum
Mr L Fraser
Mr P Corbett
Mrs S Slimon
Mr R Balfour
Mr G Rimell
Mrs M C Davidson
Mr J McDonald
Mr W J Smith
Rev A J MacDonald

For the amendment

Mr T C Jackson
Mrs I M Campbell
Ms K MacNab
Mr T J MacLennan
Mr A Anderson
Dr M E M Foxley
Mr A M Millar
Mr N M Clark
Mr H Fraser

The Motion having been carried by 22 votes to 9, the Committee, therefore, AGREED that a decision on the recommendation be deferred.

After a presentation on the website and after some discussion, during which it was suggested, in relation to marketing of the site to ensure that the public were aware that it was not just of interest to Gaelic speakers, that another domain name be acquired from which people might be directed to the Am Baile site and that the site include as many links as possible, the Committee NOTED:-

(i) current progress in launching and establishing the Am Baile website; and

(ii) the extension to 31 March 2005 of contracts for the provision of digitisation services to the project; and

The Committee:

(i) APPROVED the "Safety and Good Practice in Outdoor Education" document; and

In relation to music tuition, the Scottish Executive had announced a three year initiative aimed at ensuring that by 2006 every primary school pupil should have access to at least one year’s free music tuition by the time they reached P6. The allocation to Highland in 2003/04 was £135,756. While this sum was insufficient to provide a significant addition to the budget for the schools’ instrumental service it was proposed that an approach be made to Feisean nan Gaidheal with a view to establishing how a proportion of the funding might be used to develop their education programme across the whole Council area. Following negotiations with Korg UK Ltd, who had provided instruments free of charge, a pilot "Sound Start" project was also being set up for session 2003/04 in Grantown Primary School.

In discussion, it was suggested that basing the policy on pupil numbers went against the Council’s current policy with regard to super-sparsity and the formula used should take into account issues relating to super-sparsity including "dead" travel time. It was also suggested that consideration be given to making provision across Area boundaries. Some reservations were expressed in relation to the approach to the feisean movement as it was suggested that classical music tuition was necessary to allow children to aspire to the limits of their ability. Members also felt that the tuition should be provided during the school day so that all children would benefit and asked that an evaluation be prepared on the Nairn pilot as soon as possible.

The Committee AGREED:

(i) the Council apply 0.9 FTE class committed time per 1000 primary pupils as representing the required basic provision for the existing Visiting Teaching Service in Art and Design, Music and Physical Education;

(ii) basic provision in these be enhanced through the work of Culture and Sport Co-ordinators and Sports and Heritage Development Officers;

(iii) developments proposed for a revised Visiting Teaching Service as proposed in the Nairn Cluster pilot for session 2003/04 and further developments from April 2004 be noted;

(iv) discussions be opened with representatives of Feisean nan Gaidheal to support music tuition development;

(v) a proportion of the SAC funding be devoted to meeting the cost of the Sound Start pilot in Grantown Primary School; and

(vi) the Director discuss with Councillor D Alston an issue arising in the Black Isle.

(i) Minutes of Meetings of the Education Transport Appeals Committee held on 10th April, 11 June and 31 July, 2003;

and APPROVED

The Committee:-

(i) NOTED the use of recess powers to progress works at Teanassie Primary School, Culbokie Primary School and Grantown Grammar School through a negotiated contract with Scotia Kabins, in accordance with the terms of Contract Standing Orders Part 2 (C) Paragraph 1 (iii); and

(ii) AGREED the process as set out in paragraph 3.2 of the report to progress outstanding projects at Farr High School and Sleat Primary School.

There had been circulated to Members only Report No ECS44/03 dated 1 August, 2003 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport on the approval of a quotation other that the lowest for the provision of a consultancy to progress the bid for the Highland Archive Centre.

In accordance with Contract Standing Orders, Members NOTED that in the matter of the consultancy a quotation received from Andrew P K Wright in the sum of £20,040 had been accepted.