Scottish Borders Local Association

Budgets preserved and new-builds on target as education strives for 'efficiencies'

As SBC unveils its 2009 budget, Andrew Keddie explains what it means in terms of our local services

Published Date: 05 February 2009

EDUCATION and lifelong learning, SBC's biggest-spending department, will have a revenue budget of £105million, which represents 39 per cent of total revenue spending, in 2009/10. It will also bear the brunt of the heaviest job losses with 26 full-time posts or their equivalent set to go in a bid to save more than £2millon.

But Councillor Catriona Bhatia, executive member for education, was in upbeat mood when she announced the details of the capital and revenue programmes for the forthcoming financial year. She confirmed there would be no cuts in schools' devolved school management (DSM) budgets as a result of SBC approving in December the Transforming Children's Services (TCS) programme with its shared headships and radical cut in promoted posts.

The job losses are a direct result of the TCS proposals, although Mrs Bhatia is confident these will be achieved on a voluntary basis.
"It is posts rather than people that are being shed," she told TheSouthern. "There are 20 teaching posts, all but one of which is a promoted post, such as a deputy secondary head, while the remaining six are non-school based."

Mrs Bhatia announced a major capital investment in the region's largest secondary school with SBC earmarking £4.16million to create new sports facilities at Peebles High.

The cash will be spent between 2012 and 2014. It is part of a £37million five-year capital programme to improve SBC's school estate.

Mrs Bhatia, who represents Tweeddale West, said 1,300-pupil Peebles High is the only secondary in Scotland currently unable to offer a Higher qualification in physical education because of a lack of facilities.

The bulk of the capital spend in 2009/10 of £11.5million will go on building two new primaries for Kingsland in Peebles and at Lauder, along with the £2million relocation of Haylrude RC Primary on the present Kingsland site.

Meanwhile, £5.7million has been set aside for 2010/11 to construct the long-awaited Caddonfoot replacement school at Clovenfords.

The final new school in a £26million primary programme will be in West Linton, with £7million earmarked for 2011/12.

Revenue spending in education has taken an obvious hit with the £5.13million which the council must pay in the next financial year for the three new high schools – at Earlston, Duns and Eyemouth – which were financed under a public private partnership (PPP) arrangement. It is a burden which is set to grow annually over the next 30 years in line with inflation.

Faced also with an extra £1.2million for non-pay inflationary costs, including transport, utilities, rents, rates and insurance, education has been forced to sustain so-called efficiency savings of more than £2million.

The majority of this will be the £1.6million the council will save by implementing TCS, although other measures include cutting the grant to provide foreign language assistants in secondary schools by £52,000. There will also be a saving of £46,000 in support of SBC's child care services strategy.

Although there are currently increasing numbers of primary pupils, secondary students are, for the time being at least, set to dip next year: a demographic blip which will save SBC £140,000 next year.

The department will seek to maximise its income, with a three per cent increase in nursery fees from August, 2009, a 5p rise in primary school meals, and a three per cent hike in public hall lets from April 1. Small fee increases have also been sanctioned for musical tuition and residential courses.

"We have had to look across the board at deliverying best value, but underpinning it all is a desire to improve and enhance education in the Borders," said Mrs Bhatia.

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