Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Stuart Bodsworth, Councillor Ann Smith, Damian Cunningham, Andrew Webb, Joanne O’Raw, Lyn Merillion and Tropez Martin.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 8 December 2011

The minutes of the meeting held on 8 December 2011 were agreed as a correct record.

There were no matters arising.

The Corporate Director Services to People submitted a report (copies of which have been circulated) providing Schools Forum members with an update of the 2012/13 Schools Funding Settlement. The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·         PFI submissions are a 27 year commitment.

·         The eligibility criteria for the Pupil Premium Grant from April 2012 is any pupil who has ever been eligible for Free School Meals in the last six years. This will be a rolling period. Whilst nurseries are obliged to provide a free meal for eligible children which access their free entitlement over the two and half days model, there is no funding for this and is not part of the Pupil Premium Grant suitability criteria.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

The Corporate Director Services to People submitted a report (copies of which have been circulated) providing the Schools Forum with an update on the Retained Schools Budget (RSB) review. The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·         The GOVAS event held the night before this meeting was very successful and the group have offered to put all the information regarding the RSB review on their website. From the discussions held at the event it seems that governors would agree with keeping the status quo for now.

·         The Secondary School head teachers will have their workshop on 9^th February 2012.

·         The results of the review will be discussed with the Andrew Webb, Corporate Director Services to People and Councillor Stuart Bodsworth, Executive Member for final decision and the outcome will be reported to Forum at the March 2012 meeting before they are then communicated to the wider school audience.

·         The Secondary Consortia are against the use of broker schools.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted

(2) Forum supports the Local Authority’s four recommendations on Phase 2 subject to final feedback from the consultation events with Sectors/GOVAS:

(i)               No delegation of £2.1m of Contingency Budgets in 2012/13

(ii)              Continue with the Local Authority co-ordinating in-year funding movement on £1m budgets for pupil and teacher resources

(iii)            An SLA service delivery model will be developed for implementation in 2013/14 for Behaviour Support and 14-19 Services

(iv)            The service reviews of High Needs Services will commence with the Virtual Schools Team (VST)

The Corporate Director Services to People submitted a report (copies of which have been circulated) providing an update on the information and data to be used to calculate Individual School Budgets (ISB) delegated budget share for 2012/13.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

• The summary table shown in 6.7 does not provide details of how individual schools would be affected. This is deliberate so that Forum members can vote on principle and not on the basis of which option would best benefit their sector/schools.
• Those who are shown as ‘losers’ in the summary table are typically those who will gain more through the Pupil Premium Grant. However, this grant must be used to increase achievement and schools will be expected to show how it has been used.
• It was felt that the presentations that had been made to the sectors so far had too much information and a short timescale.
• During the GOVAS event it seemed evident that the governors were equally divided between wanting schools to receive a lump sum and wanting the status quo to continue.
• The Secondary sector had not had their presentation before the meeting. From the report submitted, they had concerns that the Pupil Premium Grant will widen the gap between the ‘winning’ and ‘losing’ schools shown in the summary table.
• It has been requested that replies are given seven days after the presentations have been made or before half term.
• The Schools Forum are requested to give a view on the arrangements, the final decision will be made by the Local Authority.
• The sectors hold similar views as last year regarding the distribution and allocation method applied to the available headroom funding. Secondary Schools would want it to be based on number of pupils at each school. Primary and Voluntary Aided Schools would want it to be based on number of pupils plus a lump sum. However, this will be discussed within the sectors before a final view is given.
• With regards to School Reserves, £305,000 is available to be distributed in April 2012. The remainder is an estimate and will be confirmed at the Schools Forum meeting on 17^th May 2012.
• £800,000 has been allocated to schools who have ‘Harnessing Technology’ contracts. Funding for this is protected until 2013 and is not included in the sums being discussed. The expiration of the ‘Wide Area Network’ contracts in 2015 will be taken into account in next year’s budgets.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) Forum support that no change be made to the current method of distributing specific grant funding allocated within the local formula until such time the National Funding Formula (NFF) is implemented.

(3) Forum support the distribution of available “headroom” on the same basis as applied in 2011/12, subject to any differing opinion forwarded by the individual sector/representative groups.

(4) Forum support distribution of £0.305m of the current reserve fund from April 2012.

The Corporate Director Services to People submitted a report (copies of which have been circulated) providing the Forum with an updated schedule of meetings for the 2011-12 academic year.  Forum members are invited to arrive 30 minutes early to the next meeting for a question and answer session with officers. Officers will use the questions asked at this session to guide the planning of more formal training in the future.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

A representative of the Corporate Director Services to People reported that currently there is 1 Academy representative on the Forum. There is going to be Secondary Academies as well as 1 Primary Academy in the borough by the start of the new financial year. The Local Authority will review the constitution and membership of the Forum and report back at the next meeting.

A report on the recent consultation on the scheme for finance will be brought to the next meeting.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 20^th March 2011 at the Kingsway School (Lower).

3.45pm – Question and Answer session based on any outstanding issues in the papers or any other matters that forum members want to raise

4.15pm – Formal Schools Forum business