3.4 The greater certainty of funding and its allocation to clusters of schools under BSF makes it easier for Local Authorities to make changes that are difficult with funding for individual schools, including:
■ Estate rationalisation. Local Authorities are able to rearrange the number and location of their secondary schools. This allows Local Authorities to take account of falling pupil numbers, movements in population and changes in the make-up of communities.
■ Changing the type of school provision. Local Authorities are able to extend or change the choice of school types in their area. Most Local Authorities also use the programme to provide specialised facilities, and coordinate the specialisms across all the schools in the area.
■ Estate-wide ICT and facilities management provision, with managed services. Local Authorities can establish estate-wide managed services to promote economies of scale and performance improvements.
■ Integration of special needs provision.