Agenda item

Action

Ian Pearson presented the report on the development of West Berkshire’s ASD resource provision.

Currently there are two ASD resource units one primary and one secondary both in Theale. It is proposed that in order to provide capacity for the increasing demand an additional 10 place primary resource unit and a 15 place secondary resource unit are required. The resource units are planned to open in September 2015.

The annual revenue cost 2015/16 for the primary resource is estimated to be £264k and for the secondary resource it is estimated to be £359k reducing to £164k and £209k respectively in 2016/17 (assuming that they are both full). The actual costs will be less to start with whilst the numbers build up. The unit cost of a place in a resource is significantly lower than those in a specialist independent or non maintained ASD school and some pupils will have top up funding diverted from their current placement.  

DECISION: The Schools Forum agreed to allocate funds from the High Needs Block in respect of these developments.