Examination of Witnesses (Questions 80-92)
TIM BYLES
14 JULY 2008
Q80 Mr Chaytor: Local authorities
also have their own emission reductions target in their performance
management frameworks. Will the carbon content of school travel
have to be included in the local authority's performance indicators
or will it be counted against the schools' carbon reduction calculations?
Tim Byles: That is a technical
question. I do not know the answer. I am a bit out of date as
a local authority chief executive. I believe that it will come
at authority level and may also be measured at the school level.
It certainly is not something that we take into account through
our formal reporting at BSF.
Q81 Chairman: If you have departmental
expertise, will you write a note to us on it?
Tim Byles: Indeed. Yes, we will.
Q82 Chairman: We have come to the
end of the sitting. You live in three worlds. Does that world
include speaking regularly to the Schools Commissioner?
Tim Byles: It does indeed. Yes,
I speak to him regularly.
Q83 Chairman: What do you talk about?
Tim Byles: We talk about the need
to balance choice and how to set that in the context of an improvement
strategy for each institution in a local authority area. We meet
regularly to discuss those issues. As each authority comes into
BSF, we have a discussion at wave level to look at the plans of
each authority to make sure that we have a pattern that meets
the objectives of the Schools Commissioner and of the other aspects
of the DCSF before commissioning the project at the remit meeting,
which I chair on behalf of the Government in each local authority
area. Those are the things that we discuss. The discussions centre
on being sure that the improvement strategy for each school is
convincing, and that a range of choice is available for young
people within the local authority area.
Q84 Chairman: You talk regularly
to Sir Bruce Liddington. Everyone knows that there is a discussion
about two particular local authorities in London that are next
door to each other. Everyone says that one is making a brilliant
job of BSF, and that the other is making a real mess of it. How
did the one authority that everyone says is making a mess get
through all the hoops and get the money? What is going on?
Tim Byles: I am racking my brains
about which authority you mean.
Chairman: The authorities are Greenwich
and Lewisham. I shall not tell you which one is good and which
one is bad. I shall leave that to your imagination.
Tim Byles: Different progress
is made in those two boroughs. That is true. Their involvement
with BSF considerably predates the existence of the Schools Commissioner,
and they have adopted quite different procurement routes. I have
been dealing in detail with both authorities over the past few
months. A range of issues—not to do with the schools commissioner—has
impacted on their progress. As it happens, both of them are starting
to make good progress, but one, in particular, has had a slow
start and is taking a long time.
Q85 Chairman: The word coming back—probably
about the one with the slow start, I am not sure—was that
it could not be bothered with the environmental stuff and sustainability
affecting the environment.
Tim Byles: I am not seeing that.
I am certainly seeing the settling of some substantial environmental
factors affecting the progress of one particular school in one
of those authorities. That is not because the authority is not
taking the matter seriously, but because there is a need to balance
the environmental regulation questions—as there is in other
places. You mentioned flooding earlier.
Q86 Chairman: Tim, I am happy with
that. How often do you talk to the Building Research Centre (BRC)?
Tim Byles: I do not talk to it
frequently. Our design team is in pretty constant contact with
all people engaged in building.
Q87 Chairman: The BRC is doing really
good stuff, but on sustainable buildings—those that contain
energy and use less of it. I know that such matters are not linked
directly to the DCSF, but surely you should be talking to people
who do the innovation.
Tim Byles: I personally do not
talk to them regularly.
Q88 Chairman: Does anyone do so from
your team?
Tim Byles: I shall confirm that.
I am sure that we do on the issue of developing sustainability.
I do not claim that I have a direct dealing myself.
Q89 Chairman: But you mention innovation
quite a lot.
Tim Byles: Absolutely.
Q90 Chairman: As it is innovation,
it might be worth sending some of your people down there.
Tim Byles: We will do so.
Q91 Chairman: I do not know if Graham
was talking about the high-quality pumps because he has a constituency
interest. I hope that he was, because it just shows that he is
doing his job superbly well. Heat Exchangers, a company in my
constituency, is working on such an innovation. Tim, this has
been a valuable session. As long as you are in the job, we will
call you back regularly. A lot of taxpayers' money is involved.
Do you still think that it is worth using all that money to refurbish
buildings? Should we not stop the programme and spend more money
on good science and maths teachers? Do we have the priority wrong?
Tim Byles: We should be doing
both. I see an enormous improvement in the behaviour, attitude
and engagement of students with whom we are working throughout
the country. I certainly think that it is important to achieve
a right balance between new facilities, ICT, teaching and the
engagement of parents to make sure that the whole package delivers
the outcomes that we are seeking. While I am pleased that we have
been asked to act as a single gateway into BSF—as you recommended
in your report last year—it also gives us an opportunity
to influence each of those areas as well as making sure the element
that is the core of our business is delivered effectively.
Q92 Chairman: I think that you left
the community out of that.
Tim Byles: The community is an
important ingredient.
Chairman: Thank you.
| 
