Agenda and minutes

The Vice Chair welcomed members and introductions were made.

Apologies were received from Councillor Shan Alexander, Joanne O’Raw, David Marshall, Pam Campbell, Gillian Stunell, Peter Maloney, Jenny Gow, Ian Roberts and Patricia Goodstadt.

To approve as a correct record and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 15 October 2012.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 15 October 2012 were approved as a correct record.

There were no matters arising.

To consider an oral report of Risk Management in Schools by Andy Pollard.

A representative of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services provided an update on Risk Management in Schools.

The following comments were made / issues raised :-

·         There was a real need for high level risk management training in schools for both teachers and staff. Site managers and governors also needed to be included.

·         £40,000 was expected to be the minimum level required with potentially more needed to include training for all parties identified above.

·         Primary schools had received their risk assessments and were working towards the actions.

·         Stockport Council provided an in-house Health & Safety training course twice a year but there were already 17 on the waiting list.

·         A suggestion was made for the £40,000 to be put towards an external training provider.

·         Money that was supposed to be shared would benefit the secondary school sector more as their need was higher.

·         The responsibilities for risk management were the same in all schools.

·         A suggestion was made to vary the amounts of the fund that were allocated at the last meeting (£120,000 for schools to bid against, £40,000 for additional training, £20,000 for a campaign).

RESOLVED – (1) That the update be noted.

(2) That Donna Sager email forum members costing information relating to training /commissioning an external provider/consultant.

(3) That members consider the allocated sums and make a decision at the next meeting.

Report to be presented by Peter Hughes.

A representative of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) detailing the 2013 / 14 Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). The DSG funding allocated to the Local Authority (LA) would be split into three notional funding blocks (Early Years, High Needs and the Schools Budget).

In relation to Section 3 of the report the revised powers and responsibilities of the Schools Forum were now in force. The major changes were outlined, in particular the breach of the Central Expenditure Limit (CEL) no longer existed and replaced by the requirement of forum members to approve all central spend items within the schools block on an individual line basis.

In relation to Section 4 of the report (DfE Baseline) in constructing the three funding blocks the DfE had taken the opportunity to address the issue of implementing a national funding system to allocate funds to Hospital schools. Each LA’s overall DSG funding level was being top-sliced at a rate of £8.50 per pupil. The High Needs (HN) block would be fixed at 2012/13 spend levels and the Early Years block would be calculated initially on the January 2012 pupil data and updated for both the January 2013 and 2014 pupil numbers. Taking all the above into account the current estimated DSG was £185.033m for 2013 / 14.

In relation to Section 5 of the report (LA Block Adjustments / Budget Setting) there would be a 0% cash increase in funding and an application of the Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) at -1.5% per pupil for all schools delegated budgets. The notional blocks were not fixed amounts meaning that the LA was permitted to redeploy funding between the blocks and Sections 5.3 – 5.5 of the report outlined a series of adjustments that would be made to the notional block allocations.

An apology was made for some data errors contained in a previous report issued to the forum in relation to KS3/KS4 pupil numbers. This had now been corrected and assurance was given that this did not impact on the principles agreed in preparing the Schools Forum recommendation to the Executive in approving the new Local Formula.

In relation to section 6 of the report (Schools Budget Block) discussions ensued around additional delegation/de-delegation. Secondary Heads expressed concern over how funding for AST’s (Advanced Skills Teachers) would work and suggested re-visiting this at a future meeting.

The LA would continue to provide the statutory services and 2013/14 budget was capped at 2012/13 funding levels under the new funding reform arrangements. Discussions arose around Section 6.4 of the report (Central Provision) and the Forum requested that reports be given at a future meeting on Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) and the level of service being provided by school admissions. The Forum was informed that the figures given were a maximum projection and not a final budget allocation and if the projected updated cost was less the excess would be re-invested in other DSG areas.

In relation to Section 6.6 of the report (Pupil Growth and Infant Class Sizes) discussions took place around how the secondary schools/academies would benefit as they did not currently have growth in pupil numbers.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the individual proposals as outlined at Sections 6.4 – 6.6 of the report be agreed.

(3) That Donna Sager provide a report on the Carbon Reduction Scheme and the Admissions Funding to a future meeting of the Forum.

Report to be presented by Peter Hughes.

A representative of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) detailing the latest developments and information relating to the work streams focused on the High Needs (HN) funding block.

In relation to Section 3 of the report (Place-Plus) the details contained in the report were outlined, in particular the new system would standardise across the country the level up to which mainstream providers would contribute towards the child’s overall costs of support.

In relation to Section 4 of the report (High Needs Working Group (HNWG)) it was reported that the group had met numerous times and good progress had been made (details of which can be found at section 4.3 of the report). Further work needed to be done including developing the “Local Offer” and financial procedures to implement HN funding reforms.

In relation to Section 5 of the report (PRU (Pupil Referral Unit) Requirements) the changes were outlined including PRU’s becoming more like mainstream schools in terms of the delegated budgets, powers and responsibilities.

In relation to Section 6 of the report (16-25 funding) it was reported that funding would be streamlined and would include all funding for post-16 colleges, FE colleges and independent institutions.

In relation to Section 7 of the report (Notional SEN (Special Educational Needs)) the budget needed to be finalised in the spring term.

In relation to Section 8 of the report (Briefings / Workshops) the LA would arrange and facilitate a further series of workshop events, prior to implementation on 1 April 2013, to provide further information and updates on the work streams within the HN block.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Report to be presented by Peter Hughes.

A representative of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing the Forum with an updated schedule of meetings for the 2012 – 2013 academic year.

The reports and agenda items that would be presented at the spring term meetings were discussed, as detailed in Appendix A.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That no training session was required prior to the next meeting of the Forum.

No other business was discussed.

To agree the date of the next meeting, scheduled for Thursday 7 February 2013.

RESOLVED – That the next meeting be held on Thursday 7 February 2013 at 4:15 pm at the ICT Centre, Kingsway School, Broadway Campus.