Delegated Officer Report Decision Maker: Richard Lynch - Director of Education, Early Years and Skills, Oldham Council Date of Decision: May 2021 Subject: Oldham Opportunity Area – HE Progression Report Author: Catherine Murphy Opportunity Area Programme Manager Martyn King – Opportunity Area DfE Lead Ward (s): All The purpose of this paper is to provide information to Oldham council around an OA project. 2. To provide reassurance that this is compliant with financial, legal, and commercial practices. Reason for the decision: The Opportunity Area (OA) initiative announced in October 2016 formed a strand of the governments approach to increasing social mobility. To this end, the Department for Education (DfE) targeted a three year, seventy-two million-pound (£72m) support programme at 12 local authority districts (LADs) identified due to the social, economic and cultural challenges that have been found and the barriers to local residents’ life chances. The 12 OAs were selected from those LADs that were in the weakest sextile for both the 2016 Social Mobility Index (SMI) and the Achieving Excellence Areas Index. In 2016, Oldham was identified as an area that would benefit from being part of the OA programme. On the 4th November 2019, the Education Secretary announced that the programme will be extended for an additional year until August 2021 to help sustain long term improvements and outcomes. This was formally approved by Minister Donelan, Minister of State for Universities, and the OOA Year 4 Plan has now been agreed. Since the commencement of the Oldham Opportunity Area (OOA), Oldham Council has awarded contracts/grants to a variety of suppliers and/or specialist providers e.g., teaching schools in and out of the borough – due to lack of in-borough capacity; and specialist providers where there are no other organisations who can provide the particular service required. Summary: This report seeks approval for a grant award to Greater Manchester Higher for a Progression into Higher Education project. As part of the Year 4 plan, we agreed to focus on progression to Higher Education. Greater Manchester Higher is a collaborative partnership funded through the Office for Students ‘Uni Connect’ programme, which delivers a nationally coordinated approach to working with targeted schools, universities, and colleges to help young people access higher education. The aim of the programme is to support the government’s social mobility goals by rapidly increasing the number of young people from underrepresented groups who go into higher education. Uni Connect brings together 29 partnerships of universities, colleges, and other local partners to offer activities, advice and information on the benefits and realities of going to university or college. The partnerships focus their work on local areas where higher education participation is lower than might be expected given the GCSE results of the young people who live there. Currently, this means that nine of the 13 secondary schools in Oldham receive this offer based on the postcode wards. Greater Manchester Higher have agreed to partner with Oldham Opportunity Area to extend their targeted outreach from the nine secondary schools in Oldham who currently receive this offer to a further four schools, listed below, that are not Uni Connect target schools. The total proposed cost of the funding is £25,000. GM Higher will provide the staffing and project management costs in kind. These schools will be invited to select 12 of their most able or gifted and talented disadvantaged learners from Year 9 or 10 to increase the awareness and aspirations to study at highly selective or higher tariff universities. The schools identified to work with are: Extended offer via OA Percentage School of free allocation Establishment Name school meal students The Radclyffe School 22.2 £6250 North Chadderton School 13.7 £6250 Co-op Academy Failsworth 24.6 £6250 The Crompton House Church £6250 of England Academy 6.8 Total proposed costs £25,000 What are the alternative option(s) to be considered? Please give the reason(s) for recommendation(s): There are no alternative options available currently as Greater Manchester have a well- established network of support in Oldham schools. Therefore, not approving the grant would reduce the success of the OOA and life chances for Oldham’s young people in these four schools. Consultation: including any conflict of interest declared by relevant Cabinet Member consulted. Consultation has taken place with the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, Councillor Shaid Mushtaq on 3 December 2020 at the Oldham Opportunity Area Partnership Board. There were no conflicts of interests declared. Recommendation(s): That approval is granted for the Year 4 OOA grants to Greater Manchester Higher to deliver in the academic year 2020-2021. Implications: What are the financial implications? The financial implications associated with this report are to approve Opportunity Area Year 4 funding to Greater Manchester Higher for delivery within the academic year 2020-21. There schools that have been identified are : • The Radclyffe School • North Chadderton School • Co-op Academy Failsworth • Crompton House C of E School Each school will receive £6,250 so a total amount of £25,000 to be granted to Greater Manchester Higher. This can be wholly financed from the Council’s existing Opportunity Area allocations, as such there are no direct revenue consequences for the Council. Vicki Hayes What are the legal implications? The Council is now required under Article 3(4) of the Trade and Co-operation Agreement dated 24th December 2021 to ensure that any decision to make a grant complies with the six principles in the subsidy control regime namely: - It must pursue a specific public body objective to remedy and identified market failure or to address an equity rationale such as social difficulties or distributional concerns. - It must be proportionate and limited to what is necessary to achieve the objective. - It must be designed to bring about a change in economic behaviour of the beneficiary that is conducive to achieving the objective and that would not be achieved in the absence of subsidies being provided. - It must not normally compensate for the costs the beneficiary would have funded in absence of any subsidy. - It must be an appropriate policy instrument to achieve a public policy objective and that objective cannot be achieved through other less distortive means. - Its positive contributions to achieving the objective must outweigh any negative effects in particular the negative effects on trade or investment between the parties. It is important that the rationale for the decision-making process at each step is recorded for each of the principles. Furthermore, there is a duty to publish all details of grants on the government’s central register within six months of the making of a grant including: - the legal basis, policy objective and purpose of subsidy; - name of the recipient of the subsidy; - the date of grant of subsidy along with its duration and other limits attached to subsidy; and - the amount of the subsidy or the budgeted amount of the subsidy. The government’s central register has not been implemented to date and therefore, it is advisable for the service to keep a running record of the details of all the grants made since the 1st January 2021 and to provide a copy to the Head of Corporate Governance so that the details can be published when the central register is implemented. (Elizabeth Cunningham Doyle) What are the procurement implications? Under the Contract Procedure Rules, it does not apply to grants, a grant must comply. grant can be made subject to conditions and the grant can be clawed back if the conditions are not met. The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has issued guidance referring to the principles set out in article 3.4 of the TCA which a public body should follow when making a decision which include amongst other things equity, proportionality, necessity and fulfilling public law objectives. (Mohammad Sharif) 14/05/2021 What are the Human Resources implications? None Equality and Diversity Impact Assessment attached or not required because (please give reason) Not required as this will be completed by Greater Manchester Higher What are the property implications? None Risks: • Risk - There is insufficient school capacity to complete the project. • Risk – The pupils in these four schools don’t get the same opportunities as the students in the nine postcode targeted schools, as mentioned above. Mitigation Oldham Opportunity Area will work with those schools to ensure that the OOA Year 4 programme is delivered and completed to our schools. Co-operative agenda Has the relevant Legal Officer confirmed that the Yes recommendations within this report are lawful and comply with the Council’s Constitution? Has the relevant Finance Officer confirmed that any Yes expenditure referred to within this report is consistent with the Council’s budget? Are any of the recommendations within this report contrary to No the Policy Framework of the Council? List of Background Papers under Section 100D of the Local Government Act 1972: None Report Author Sign-off: Date: Please list and attach any appendices:- Appendix number or Description letter In consultation with Director of Education, Skills & Early Years Signed : Date: 26 May 2021 .