Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services.

The report provides Schools Forum members with detail of the final 2014/15 Schools Budget year-end reported out-turn position.

Schools Forum members are asked to note the report.

Officer Contact: Peter Hughes on 0161 474 3947 or email peter.hughes@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing members with detail of the final 2014/15 Schools Budget year-end reported out-turn position.

It was reported that the final net reported out-turn position to senior management was a year-end surplus of £0.917m. The key year-end variances that provided the position included:-

·         2 year old offer (surplus £0.560m) - participation below national target levels (national picture) and trajectory funding not all deployed in year;

·         3 and 4 year old offer (surplus £0.198m) – not all children take up full 15hrs per week entitlement;

·         Maternity costs (deficit £0.171m) – 20% increase in annual costs;

·         School contingency (deficit £0.210m) – mainly attributable to large pupil population growth in primary sector;

A number of central budget holders presented requests to carry-forward their year-end reported surplus balance totalling £0.605m and Senior Management Team considered and approved requests totalling £0.595m.The revised net year-position £0.322m (i.e. after accounting for approved carry-forward requests) had been transferred into the General DSG Reserve and would be deployed to support the 2015/16 and 2016/17 budget setting process.

The short-medium term sustainability of the Schools Budget was still a key issue to be addressed by the Local Authority and Schools Forum in the near future and the outcomes of any national review/changes to DSG formulaic distribution would be critical to such plans.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the Local Authority considers an update on DSG reserve levels and any other funding issues for future training/development sessions for Schools Forum members.