Agenda item

Agenda item

Bee Green summit update and Education Green Climate Change Action Plan 2022-24

Report of the Director of Education

 

This report provides an update on work done by the Council to support the Education sector with decarbonisation since the previous report to Children and Young People’s Scrutiny committee on the Climate Emergency in January 2022. It also outlines the plans for this work moving forwards, with the action plan refreshed bi-annually following on from several review points within the two years.

 

Minutes:

The Committee received a report of the Director of Education which provided an update on work done by the Council to support the education sector with decarbonisation since the previous report to the Committee on the Climate Emergency in January 2022.  It also outlined the plans for this work moving forwards, with the action plan refreshed bi-annually following on from several review points within the two years.

 

The main points and themes within the report included:

 

  • Background information;
  • Progress to date in relation to:
    • Bee Green Education Summit;
    • Green Bee Assembly;
    • Schools Hub;
    • Education Services’ Climate Change Action Plan 2022-24; and
    • Plan Launch and World Car Free Day; and
  • Future opportunities.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

 

  • Plans to work with schools who had not engaged with the Bee Green event;
  • School carbon emission figures and whether the Key Performance Indicators in the appendix should include a specific target for reducing carbon emissions;
  • How the Council could help schools to focus on the climate change crisis, given the other pressures on schools, their pupils and families at the present time;
  • Travel to school, including the safety of pupils walking and cycling to school;
  • The role of Ward Councillors, including how they could engage with schools and sharing information with Ward Councillors about the work the schools in their wards were doing;
  • To request that school governors be given carbon literacy training; and
  • Recognising the important role of the Manchester Environmental Education Network.

 

The Director of Education advised that there were always competing priorities and challenges for schools but that the Council was committed to keeping this issue high on the agenda, making it a priority and supporting schools to do the same.  She informed Members that an audit was taking place on the progress schools in Manchester had made so far in addressing climate change.  She reported that some schools had already made a lot of progress with this while some were still at a very early stage with this work, not because they were unwilling to address it but because they did not know how to start to approach this.  She reported that, following the audit, the Council would look to group schools together to provide support. 

 

The Graduate Management Trainee reported that there was not currently a tool available to calculate school emissions but that work was taking place to look at how this could be achieved and to try to calculate energy use per pupil and that a clearer picture of emission levels was needed before setting targets.  In response to Members’ comments on rising energy bills and funding available to help schools reduce the amount of carbon produced by their heating systems, he informed Members about some of the funding which was available, that information on this was available on the online schools hub and that the Council could assist schools with applying for these funding streams.  The Director of Education informed Members that information was being sent to schools the following week about how they could reduce their energy use.  The Graduate Management Trainee reported that procurement was another area where schools could reduce their carbon emissions through working together to source sustainable, local providers.  The Chair suggested that schools sign up to the Council’s Ethical Procurement Policy and Social Value Policy.

 

In response to a Member’s question, the Post-16 Lead outlined how the Council, schools and settings worked together to understand and respond to labour market intelligence on green skills and green jobs.  In response to a Member’s question about figures on the level of engagement with the online schools hub, he advised that he would look at what data was available on this.  In response to a question about ward-level work on climate change, he advised that he and his colleagues were working in conjunction with ward action plans and liaising with other teams, including Neighbourhood Teams, and the Highways Service, to ensure a joined-up approach.  He informed Members that this included working together on a pilot project in relation to active travel.  The Chair expressed concern that Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) had so far not been able to find funding for some sustainable travel projects.

 

The Executive Member for Children’s Services highlighted that integrating the school action plans with the ward action plans was referred to in the action plan and he encouraged the Ward Councillors to ensure that this was taking place in their ward.  He recognised the important role of Ward Councillors and advised that he would email all Councillors to encourage them to engage with schools on climate change and that he would arrange for Ward Councillors to have access to school action plans.  He reported that carbon literacy training was available for school governors and that this would be made clear and that the Deputy Executive Member for Environment and Transport was working to increase the number of carbon literate people in schools.  He confirmed that the Council was working with the Manchester Environmental Education Network.

 

The Graduate Management Trainee acknowledged a Member’s comment about parental engagement, reporting that the Green Bee Relay referred to in the report would be a good way of initiating this.

 

The Chair of the Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny Committee welcomed the work outlined in the report, in particular the focus on children and young people’s voices and giving them ways of taking action to address climate change.   She advised that some actions to address climate change were more easily achieved than others and that this should be taken into account when prioritising actions.  She highlighted a report by the Manchester Climate Change Partnership which was going to the Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny Committee meeting the following day and which indicated that the city was failing to meet its targets on its journey to reach zero carbon by 2038.  She reported that the age, design and condition of school buildings was a challenge and that schools would need a lot of support to address this.  She encouraged the Council to be more ambitious than the targets set by the Department for Education (DfE) on rolling out carbon literacy training.  She reported that she had attended the Bee Green event and asked whether it would be better to spend the money on trying to engage with the schools who were not currently engaged in this work. 

 

Councillor Wright, Member of the Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny Committee, stated that it would be useful to have a breakdown of the current position in relation to school buildings and which were likely to require more work to reduce carbon emissions and what access to funding was available.  She asked to see the information that was on the schools hub in relation to climate change.

 

In response to a question from Councillor Wright, the Graduate Management Trainee clarified that the figure on the percentage of education emissions which came from travel and transport, included all school travel, relating to both pupils and staff.  He proposed a travel survey to better understand how pupils were travelling to school and informed Members about the school streets toolkit which was being developed.  He reported that a task group was looking at installing solar panels on school buildings and overcoming the barriers that schools faced in doing this. 

 

The Chair informed the Committee that she and the Chair of the Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny Committee had been working with TfGM to ensure a more equitable provision of school buses across Greater Manchester by September 2023.  She advised that a report would be brought to either this Committee or the Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny Committee once this work had been completed.  She advised that this would have a significant impact on the number of car journeys by parents to take children to school.  She also stated that it would be beneficial to have a RAG rating for schools, to monitor the progress they had made in relation to addressing climate change and support them to improve.  The Post-16 Lead reported that this would be done through the audit process.

 

The Executive Member for Children’s Services explained that the Bee Green summit had been a form of quality engagement which had informed the action plan and that it was the actions arising out of the summit that were important, rather than the event itself.

 

The Deputy Executive Member for Environment and Transport thanked the Director of Education, the Executive Member for Children’s Services and all those involved for their work on this, which went beyond that which was outlined in the report.  She advised that the information and resources on the schools hub was the legacy of the Bee Green summit and asked officers to provide a briefing to Members on this.

 

Decision

 

To note the report.

Supporting documents: