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SAC Report No. 5

Maintenance and Repairs of Aberdeenshire Schools (April 2005)

Summary

This report sets out the process, conclusions and recommendations of the fifth investigation undertaken by the Scrutiny and Audit Committee. The investigation was into the Maintenance and Repairs of Aberdeenshire Schools.

The purpose of the investigation was to (1) investigate the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the current repair service provision and (2) examine how improvements might be effected. The decision to select this topic for investigation was taken in the light of claims by head teachers and parents that the Council system was expensive and inefficient.

The investigation began in September 2004 and the Committee heard evidence from twenty-five internal and external witnesses interviewed during five evidence gathering sessions. The Committee visited three schools within Aberdeenshire, one primary school and two academies. Questionnaires were issued to all head teachers of Aberdeenshire schools. School Boards and PTA's were contacted by letter.

The Committee considered all the evidence gathered and drew up its conclusions and recommendations at a meeting on 27 October 2004.

The Committee's main conclusions and recommendations are:

  • There is insufficient funding available overall to maintain the current school estate. The Council should continue to lobby the Scottish Executive for additional funding to address the issue.
  • The Council should aim to move away from a fire-fighting approach to repairs to a more planned maintenance approach. The Committee acknowledges that it will be difficult or impossible to do this unless more money becomes available to invest in school buildings. An important first step to a more planned approach is the use of priorities identified as a result of the recent Asset Management Plan condition surveys.
  • The Committee welcomes recent clarifications and reforms to the allocation of the maintenance and repairs responsibilities and is satisfied that the retention of the tenant/landlord split is necessary and that the current split in responsibilities assumed by the tenant (the school) and landlord (the Property section) is appropriate. However, the Committee believes that a floor amount should be set for the tenant repairs budget with no school getting less than this.
  • Taking into account prevailing circumstances (e.g. labour shortages, dispersed rural estate, funding available), the Committee fully endorses the Term Contract approach taken by the Council. It sees Term Contracts as having major advantages over the award of small ad-hoc local contracts in terms of spreading and avoiding risk, transparency of criteria for award, gaining economies of scale and securing an equitable service over a wide geographical area. The Committee is clear that there is an issue of unrealistic expectations, with head teachers, School Boards, PTAs and parents not fully aware of the issues and costs involved in school maintenance and repairs. There is therefore a need to explain realities to these parties so that the reasoning behind the approach applied by the Council can be better understood.
  • The Committee identifies that there is an internal communication problem. It recommends that detailed information on the maintenance and repairs system and the responsibilities of different parties is communicated to all appropriate individuals.
  • Many of the staff employed as school janitors bring with them skills from the building industry and the Committee see it as desirable that the Council fully utilise these skills.

Overall, the Committee concludes that the totality of the schools maintenance system the Council has set up is a logical approach which is delivering a good service and value for money given the prevailing conditions. The system is appropriate for the current level of spending, the amount of competition in the labour market and the dispersed school estate. No major changes to the organisation of the system are recommended whilst current conditions prevail. However, there is clearly an issue of communication between those involved. The large number of staff using the system will not have full confidence in it until they have a better understanding of it. Much of the criticism directed at the system is mis-placed and based on anecdotal evidence and failure to appreciate council-wide constraints, hidden costs and the benefits of economies of scale and removal of risk provided by Term Contracts.

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