Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed members.

Apologies were received from Janice Cahill, Sue Challinor, Patricia Goodstadt, Gillian Stunell and Catherine Wilde.

Stuart Foster attended the meeting as a substitute for Gillian Stunell and Kathy Burton attended the meeting as a substitute for Janice Cahill.

To approve as a correct record and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 7 February 2013.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 7 February 2013 were approved as a correct record.

To discuss any matters arising.

(a)          School Admissions (Minute 6 of 7 February 2013 refers)

A group is to be established to discuss statutory requirements in relation to School Admissions for Voluntary Aided schools. Membership would include Damian Cunningham, Bernadette Singleton, Stephen Bell, Pat Morgan and two Diocese representatives.

Further proposals would be brought to a future meeting of Schools Forum.

(b)          Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) (Minute 7 of 7 February 2013 refers)

Donna Sager had contacted the Carbon Trust who confirmed that they could offer a programme at a cost. Other providers needed to be contacted and compared.

A further proposal would be brought to a future meeting of Schools Forum.

(c)          Risk Management in Schools (Minute 5 of 7 February 2013 refers)

Donna Sager notified the Forum that Zurich insurers offered a school based training activity on business continuity which could work with individual schools, including PRU’s and academies, at a cost of £1,500 per school. St Anne’s RC High School have used this service and found it very valuable.

It was suggested that the excess money could be used to fund this training initially for secondary schools and later rolled out to all other schools/PRU’s.

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

The report provides the latest projection of the total Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) funding available, an update of the construction of the 2013/14 DSG budget, details of the requirement to delegate funding to all Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) and information on emerging funding pressures within the current DSG budget.

Officer contact Peter Hughes, Tel: 474 3947, 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 the latest projection of the 2013/14 Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) funding available, an update of the construction of the 2013/14 DSG budget, details of the requirement to delegate funding to all Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) and information on emerging funding pressures within the current DSG budget.

It was confirmed that the 2013/14 school budgets had been distributed to all head teachers and school finance staff ahead of the mandatory statutory date, including private, voluntary and independent early years providers.

It was reported that the overall DSG allocation would change occasionally and updates would be provided to the Schools Forum as appropriate. Section 3 of the report provided an update on the latest funding adjustments to the baseline relating to non-maintained special school place funding, re-distribution of old standards fund grant to Local Authorities (LA) for non-maintained schools and post-16 funding for LA maintained special schools from August 2013. The DSG baseline for 2013/14 had been revised to £187.750m.

As per section 4 of the report (DSG Budget) it was reported that the LA would provide delegated budgets to all PRUs from April 2013 rather than a devolved operational budget.

It was reported that two budget pressures had been identified relating to the new place-plus funding system, mainly due to a greater number of pupils becoming eligible for top-up funding, and post-16 provision, due to the transfer of responsibility to the LA. A further report would be brought to a future meeting of the Forum on this matter with suggested proposals to manage these emerging cost pressures.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

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

The report provides a summary of the consultation document “Review of the 2013/14 School Funding Arrangements” launched by the DfE on 12^th February 2013, Stockport’s response to the consultation document and to determine any aspects of the local formula and funding system that Schools Forum may wish to explore further changes and consult upon prior to April 2014.

Officer contact Peter Hughes, Tel: 474 3947, 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) detailing a summary of the consultation document launched by the DfE and Stockport’s draft response.

The report was outlined and the consultation document including Stockport’s draft response was discussed.

In relation to section 9.4 of the report it was mentioned that the local funding formula had only just started so it was too soon to consider any changes and the wider consortia needed to be consulted. It was commented that in relation to primary schools there were contentious issues in the formula and that approximately 50% of primary schools were worse off so an opportunity to review the formula would be welcomed from a primary perspective.

It was suggested that any such review could be joint between the primary and secondary sectors or separate. However, decisions on points to be addressed, the scope of the review and names of representatives were needed by the end of April 2013 in order for meetings to commence in May 2013.

It was confirmed that there was scope to review this arrangement on a yearly basis.

Appendix A and B of the report were outlined and discussed in detail. Draft responses to the questions within the consultation document were agreed and the following issues were raised/comments made:-

·         In relation to question 1 (National Consistency) it was commented that the minimum threshold level, set between 75-80%, was much lower than other LA’s.

·         In relation to question 4 (Prior Attainment) it was commented that at present there was no other data to use other than the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile data.

·         In relation to question 5 (Pupil Mobility) it was commented that there was a lot of mobility presently that seemed to be increasing which could become an issue. It was requested that pupil mobility figures from the past few years be brought to a future meeting of the Forum.

·         In relation to question 8 (The Lump Sum) it was suggested and discussed that the lump sum for primary schools should be £90k.

·         In relation to question 23 (Schools Forum) it was noted that Schools Forum membership had been changed and it was agreed that there was a fairer representation therefore the answer should be yes to the question “Do you think that Schools Forums are operating more democratically and transparently?” and no further measures were required.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the consultation response document be updated following the discussions with Forum and be submitted to the DfE.

(3) That the primary and secondary Schools Forum representatives discuss and identify any local funding formula issues to be reviewed prior to 2014/15 and identify sector representatives to be included on the Local Formula Review Group. Information to be provided to Peter Hughes by 30 April.

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

The report provides an update on the schedule of meetings for the 2012/13 academic year.

Officer contact Peter Hughes, Tel: 474 3947, 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 the Forum with an updated schedule of meetings for the 2012/13 academic year.

It was discussed that the meeting scheduled for Thursday 27 June 2013 may need to be changed if strike action is agreed.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

No other business was discussed.

To agree the date of the next meeting scheduled for Thursday 23 May 2013.

RESOLVED – That the next meeting be held on Thursday 23 May 2013 at 4:15 pm at the ICT Centre, Kingsway School, Broadway Campus with an optional question and answer session on reports to be held prior to the commencement of the meeting at 3:45 pm.