Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Bernadette Singleton.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 15 March 2011.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 15 March 2011 were approved as a correct record, with the addition of apologies from Tropez Martin.

Concerns were raised that members of the forum did not get copies of the agenda for this meeting.

RESOLVED- that the distribution list be updated and checked before the next meeting.

A representative of the Corporate Director, Services for People, submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing an update on the consultations held by the DofE. The following comments were made/issues raised :-

·         There was no chance to discuss the school’s final balance standard information, a launch date for this is to be confirmed.

·         The second stage of consultation closes after the school’s return from summer holidays.

·         The responses to the consultation have been sent and do include comments regarding why costs vary.

·         The changes following the consultation will be introduced to Parliament in Summer 2011 and will be put in place by September 2012.

Part of the Local Authority’s response to the consultation will mention the reduction in funding to academies.  The Secretary of State has said that the current level of funding is unsustainable. If the original level of funding is no longer available it will be hard to open new sixth form facilities.

A representative of the Corporate Director, Services For People submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing a summary of the 2010/2011 financial out-turn position on the centrally Retained Schools Budget (RSB) and the Individual Schools Budget (ISB).  The following comments were made/issues raised:-

• The ISB is considered to be spent once it has been given to the school.
• Surplus funds from Offerton School will be going into a reserve and any left will be allocated accordingly by the forum.

A representative of the Corporate Director, Services For People submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing an update on the level of school reserves held in relation to insurance schemes that are administered by the Local Authority and options as to how these reserves could be used. The following comments were made/issues raised:-

• Most of this reserve is spent on compensating for the loss of a technology grant and this will continue for two years until 2012/2013. At the end of this period the contracts for the technologies involved should be coming to an end and therefore schools should be able to renegotiate.
• It was suggested that instead of using a bidding process, the reserve could be made larger and fund certain projects automatically. This can be considered as an option the next time the reserve is discussed.

RESOLVED- That the reserve be held for future distribution within the 2012/2013 budget shares.

A representative of the Corporate Director, Services For People submitted a report providing details of the final 2011-2012 dedicated schools grant settlement.

RESOLVED- that the report be noted.

A representative of the Corporate Director, Services For People submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing an update on the final school balances for 2010-2011, in particular the excess balances held by each school. The following comments were made/issues raised:-

• A discussion was held over the merits of LA trying to ‘claw back’ the balance of any excess. A government statute stating that this must be done has now been removed, leaving it up to the LA to decide if they wish to continue with this as little is actually received.
• At least one school is using their excess balance to fund extra staff and others are concerned as to what future budget cuts are coming.

RESOLVED- That the report be noted.

A representative of the Corporate Director, Services For People submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing an explanation of how the LA deals with excessive surplus balances in schools. The following comments were raised/issues were discussed:-

• If there was no challenge regarding excessive balances, this could encourage schools to build them up.
• Some projects do not fit neatly into the accounting years so an excess balance is needed one year to ensure there are funds to pay for the rest of the project next year.
• The number and amount of excess balances has risen since the announced DFC cuts.
• In future, it may not be possible to justify the costs of administering the ‘claw back’ of excessive balances, considering the small success rate of this.

RESOLVED- That the report be noted.

A representative of the Corporate Director, Services For People submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing a recommendation of the Local Authority of how to deal with the remaining 7/12^ths of the School Workforce budget.

RESOLVED- That the balance be put into a reserve for reallocation to schools

A representative of the Corporate Director, Services For People submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) detailing the schedule for annual reports to be submitted to the Forum.

RESOLVED- that the report be noted.

There was no other business to consider.

RESOLVED – That the next meetings of the Schools Forum be as follows:-

Tuesday 20^th September 2011 at 16:15, Kingsway Lower School

Thursday 20^th October 2011 at 16:15, Kingsway Lower School