The name is absent

5. Support for schools at delegation

They did seek advice where they could get it, but one of the issues for us was about where they
could seek that advice and how much advice they needed. And I think we learnt the lesson
that we needed to give them more advice in the early stages. So we had a few meetings with
them about that and reviewing that and how we can improve that for other people in the future.
They tried to keep us involved at some stages. They didn’t keep us involved at the right stage so
there were misunderstandings sometimes.... It’s about them getting coordinated support that
they might be looking to different officers for different types of support and that needs to be
coordinated by one person so they are not needing to ring one for one thing and another for
something else.

5.11 The difficulties schools faced, particularly around the transfer of staff from the central
service to a private catering firm, created a rapid learning process for LEAs as well as
for schools. The LEA described previously gave a resume of the support it believed
schools needed to navigate through the transferring of staff.

They need support on personnel because there are issues around notice, proper consultation with
staff, being clear with staff about what the position was and the school were not familiar with
working with these issues. It’s how people who had originally worked for the service would be
transferred over and that was an area of awkwardness and the school were not used to it
dealing with people who were being transferred from a service they had been with for some years
to another one. And in terms of overall procurement guidance, it’s about telling people how to
getprofessional advice, how and where to get legal advice. We’ve now put together a
procurement document with a checklist of things that a school needs to look at. We’ve learnt
from this that we need to keep communicating all along the line. We’ve got to be very careful
about notices. We’ve got to be very careful about staff and making sure that staff are kept
informedparticularly those staff who are directly affected and that staff trade unions are
informed right along the process.

Summary

5.12 In terms of preparation for delegation, LEAs and schools were generally reactive in
providing and seeking support. Although some LEAs had offered guidance documents,
some had offered support on a consultancy basis, and most had legal departments to
review contract documents, support tended to be ad hoc and not offered as a corporate
package.

5.13 For some schools, the additional responsibility of engaging new suppliers and
negotiating new contracts was one with which they would have welcomed support and
advice. Having resort to designated LEA officers with responsibility to advise and guide
schools through the minefield of contract and staffing issues would have reassured
schools and governors and helped prevent costly mistakes.

5.14 Many schools and governors had been reluctant to take on more responsibilities for
their meal service for fear of becoming embroiled in a quagmire of health and safety and
environmental legislation, as well as delicate staffing issues. With more support, those
fears might have been more adequately addressed.

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