Schools Carbon Reduction Strategy Consultation Results
Summary
A final version of the Schools Carbon Reduction Strategy has now been
produced to take into account the responses raised through this consultation.
The Strategy document has now been approved by the Oxfordshire County
Council Climate Change Board.
A copy of the final Strategy is now available on the E-consult website or a
copy can be obtained by contacting schools.carbon@oxfordshire.gov.uk
1. Responses
Responses were received from 32 schools (11% of schools). Responses
shown by school type, and stakeholder type, below
Business Manager
Secondary School
Headteacher
Governor
Primary School
Deputy Head
Site Manager
Other
Special Educational
Needs School
Other
2. Results
26 out of 32 responding schools felt the “support activities identified in the
Draft Schools Carbon Reduction Strategy are appropriate to help schools
reach the goal of being able to measure, understand and take action to reduce
their overall carbon footprint”
21 out of 32 schools felt the matrix was helpful in identifying a clear path for
schools to follow to undertake carbon reduction
A number of specific issues were raised by schools. The most common comments
are summarised below along with the suggested response in the Strategy.
Principle issues raised in
consultation
 Concern over limited further
opportunities for carbon
reduction for those schools
who have taken early action
Suggested response in Strategy

Equalities Impact Assessment (to include “hard to treat”
buildings) to be carried out as part of work to generate
financial mechanism. EQIA to assess and mitigate where
possible, any undesirable adverse affect on particular
stakeholder groups.
Concern over limited
opportunities for carbon
reduction for those schools
in listed, or otherwise
difficult to modify, buildings
Equalities Impact Assessment (to include schools having
taken early action) to be carried out as part of work to
generate any financial mechanism. EQIA to assess and
mitigate where possible, any undesirable adverse affect on
particular stakeholder groups. EQIA and financial mechanism
to be signed off by Contracts and Traded Services sub group
of Schools Forum.
Benchmarking to be made available to help schools to
compare their performance with others in similar building
types.

Concern over economics of
investing in energy
efficiency for very small
schools
Surveys provided to schools to be reviewed to ensure they are
underpinned with clear, up to date advice about payback
times and potential funding opportunities.
Equalities Impact Assessment (to include very small schools
sites) to be carried out as part of work to generate financial
mechanism. EQIA to assess and mitigate where possible,
any undesirable adverse affect on particular stakeholder
groups.

Need for further detail on
potential financial
mechanisms and funding
opportunities
Timetable to be produced for the development of the financial
mechanism.
Consultation to be carried out by Contracts and Traded
Services group (of Schools Forum) once financial mechanism
related to CRC has been clarified.
Communications plan to be developed and agreed with
Schools Forum to include training opportunities for governors
and head teachers to cover financial mechanism and funding
opportunities.
Surveys provided to schools to be reviewed to ensure they are
underpinned with clear, up to date advice about payback
times and potential funding opportunities.

Clear outline of details of
the professional advice
schools will receive
required
Service Level Agreement to be generated for each service to
be provided to schools by contractors.
SLA’s to be available on Schools Carbon website and links
circulated via Schools News.
3. Schools Forum Comments
Comments from Schools Forum were gathered at the 7th October 2010
meeting. Comments, along with suggested responses in consultation are
shown below:
The need to recognise that some schools
may have limited ability to make additional
carbon savings because of early action they
have undertaken
As above
The need for specific, practical advice about
the application of renewable energy to sites
To be integrated into Strategy. SLA to be
produced showing support schools can expect
on renewable energy
Financial implications of the Strategy
should be considered as part of the
Contracts and Traded Services sub group of
the Schools Forum.
Timetable for development of financial
mechanism to be produced in conjunction with
Contracts and Traded Services committee.
4. Amends to the CRC
Since the writing of the Schools Carbon Reduction Strategy and consultation,
the Comprehensive Spending Review on 20th October 2010 has announced
changes to the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme
(CRC).
The CRC will no longer act as a carbon trading scheme but will operate more
like a tax on energy consumption (see extract below).
2.108 The CRC Energy Efficiency scheme will be simplified to reduce the burden on
businesses, with the first allowance sales for 2011-12 emissions now taking place in
2012 rather than 2011.
Revenues from allowance sales totalling £1 billion a year by 2014-15 will be used to
support the public finances, including spending on the environment, rather than
recycled to participants.
Further decisions on allowance sales are a matter for the Budget process.
(Pg. 62 Spending Review 2010)
This policy announcement will be updated in the Strategy document. The
finer details of this and therefore the precise implications for both the County
Council and schools are yet to be made clear.
As schools are keen to have a clearer understanding of the financial
implications of work around energy efficiency, a timetable for developing the
financial mechanism, and the communications plan to be associated with this,
will be created with the Contracts and Services sub committee.
Annex 1: Methodology of Schools Carbon Reduction Consultation
The draft Schools Carbon Reduction Strategy and a series of questions were
uploaded to the Oxfordshire County Council portal “E-consult”. The
consultation was open for 3 weeks between 4th and 22nd October 2010
Responses were invited to the consultation via the following means:

Governor Support Service email to all Clerks of governors for
forwarding to Chairs

Direct email to head teachers via Oxfordshire County Council email list
(inc academies), including reminder week before closing
Finance Managers via school admin emails, including reminder week
before closing
Chairs of Head Teachers Associations emailed re. survey
Via email to Schools Forum Members,
Attendance at Schools Forum, and Traded Services meetings
Emailed direct to schools inputting into the extended version of the July
carbon survey
Verbally via Carole Thompson at Oxfordshire Governors Association
Exec. Meeting
Article highlighting consultation in Schools News x 2
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