County Hall

THE MINUTES of a meeting of the Council’s own Corporate Management Team (CMT) throw a new light on the local authority’s plans for the future of Pembrokeshire’s schools.

The Herald can report that significant fears exist about the viability of plans to transfer 6^th Form education away from local secondary schools should the financial position of Pembrokeshire College change.

A report considered on November 19, 2014 appears to have anticipated the funding crisis that has engulfed Further Education Colleges across Wales. Such is the importance of Pembrokeshire College’s involvement in the scheme that the CMT sounded a warning note about whether the Council’s preferred scheme for secondary education could proceed without it.

“As [the Welsh Government] has withdrawn Match Funding for FE Colleges, the affordability of the scheme will be a key component of the Business Case. In the (hypothetical) scenario that Pembroke College withdraws from the scheme, the Project would, in effect, be a school building replacement Project – and may be less well supported under the terms of the WG 21CS (21^st Century Schools) policy.”

The meeting minutes disclose that the person preparing the authority’s business case is on secondment part-time from Pembrokeshire College and “is doing a good job of co-ordinating the dossier of Projects currently within 21CS.”

Rather surprisingly, the CMT were told “Young people of the County, parents, teachers and community groups appear to be well engaged and consulted and the Review Team heard pleasing anecdotes about the behaviour of local residents in their support for the new schools.”

Which rather begs the question, in light of subsequent protests: to whom were the Review Team speaking?

The Herald has a confidential source close to the schools reorganisation programme

The CMT considers the engagement of the Full Council in the matter as “a risk”, which suggests its members were rather depending on not too many probing questions being asked. Had they been asked, the minutes reveal that the Council has embarked upon a deeply divisive consultation – which even those behind it concede is now out of date – without waiting to establish the Welsh Government’s position in respect of the type of projects proposed in the consultation document

The fact that the Council has been working hand in glove on the provision of the 21CS programme with a member of the College’s own staff seconded to assist; with the College as a key partner; and with all indications being that the public are being presented with Hobson’s choice on the future of secondary education, the open consultation that the public have been assured would take place appears to be – as we said last Friday – nothing more than a fix.

A confidential source involved with 21CS told The Herald that ‘the College’s continued involvement hinges on how it responds to the current challenges to its budget’.

Letter from the Chairman of the Trustees of Tasker Milward and Picton Charity

Dear Councillor,

I am writing to you in my capacity as Chairman of the Trustees of Tasker Milward and Picton Charity.

Following the Extraordinary General Meeting of the Council at the end of January 2015, the Trustees met with officers of the Council to discuss the Council’s proposals insofar as they affected education in the Haverfordwest area.

It became immediately apparent at that meeting that the officers were under a misapprehension as to the ownership of the land at the site of Tasker Milward School.  It was their understanding that the land on which the old Taskers School for Girls was built (and which under their proposals would form a new Welsh language school) was in the ownership of the Council.  In fact, both sets of buildings that formed the old Taskers school and the old Haverfordwest Grammar School and the land on which they stand (together with other land) are owned by the Charity.  The Council’s officers and solicitors have now acknowledged this to be the case.

It follows that any proposals which the Council may have to utilise some or all of that land and buildings will need the consent of the Trustees and the Charity Commission. 

The Trustees are bound by the terms of a charitable scheme approved by the Charity Commission in 1983.  That scheme stipulates that the old Taskers and Grammar School buildings should be used for the purposes of Tasker Milward School.  The income of the trust is to be applied for the benefit of former pupils of Taskers, Haverfordwest Grammar, Tasker  Milward and Sir Thomas Picton Schools. 

Accordingly, if Tasker Milward School were to close it would be incumbent on the Trustees to formulate an alternative scheme for applying the assets and income of the Trust.  That scheme would have to be approved by the Charity Commissioners. Such a scheme might, for instance, include the provision of educational or recreational facilities for Haverfordwest or the sale of the Tasker Milward site and the investment of the capital thus arising, which would be a substantial sum.

The formulation of the scheme would be a matter for the Trustees who would need to consult widely with those affected.   That would include not only the Council but also the Governors, staff and parents of Tasker Milward and Sir Thomas Picton Schools.   The outcome of that consultation obviously cannot be forecast. 

There are further legal difficulties in that the present Trust is effectively confined to the Haverfordwest area.  The proposals which are the subject of statutory consultation would require the use of the Charity’s assets to benefit the whole of the County.  Furthermore, it is not permissible to use the Charity’s assets for the fulfilment of the statutory obligations of the Local Authority.

Resolving these issues will be time consuming.  The Trustees have sought to engage at an early stage with the Officers of the Council but our attempts to do so have been rebuffed.   External solicitors acting for the Council have unhelpfully written to the Trustees to say that no discussions can take place until September. 

It may be that these issues are incapable of resolution in a way that accommodates the present proposals which are out for statutory consultation.  Even if they can be resolved, the discussions and negotiations and the subsequent consultations and preparation and approval of the scheme by the Charity Commission are likely to take a considerable amount of time.  It is unfortunate that six months will have been lost due to the unwillingness of the Council’s Officers to engage with the Trustees. 

It would have been preferable for the Council and the Trustees to have a common set of objectives for secondary education in the Haverfordwest area rather than the Trustees having been excluded from the negotiations between the Council and the Pembrokeshire College.  It is in our view not too late for the Council to rectify this, but that does require the withdrawal of the present proposals and inclusive discussions between all interested parties. 

 Yours sincerely,

 Maurice Hughes, Chairman of the Tasker Milward and Picton Charity