Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed members to the meeting of the Forum and introductions were made.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Shan Alexander, Paul Carter, Simon Finch, Helen Hilton, Danny Pearson, Donna Sager, Dawn Strachan and Gillian Stunell.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 25 June 2013.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 25 June 2013 were approved as a correct record subject to the deletion of the name ‘Jenny Campbell’ from the list of Secondary School Headteachers indicated as being present.

To discuss any matters arising.

There were no matters arising.

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

The report provides an update on the latest position of the total Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG).

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) which provided an update on the latest position of the total Dedicated Schools Grant funding.

In addition to the update given at the 25 June 2013 Schools Forum meeting, the Local Authority had received further information from the Department of Education relating to an increase in funding of £57,000.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That a further update report be submitted to a future meeting.

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

The report contains the latest consultation document and updates in respect of key regulations.

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) which detailed the latest consultation document launched by the Department for Education (DfE), which would become effective from April 2014, and key regulation updates.

It was reported that the deadline to determine the initial delegated budget share and inform schools had been changed to 28 February 2014 and there was an option to re-deploy any identified 2013/14 underspends on ‘de-delegated’ items to the same ‘de-delegated’ areas in 2014/15 without allocating via the local formula. Also, schools would be excluded from the carbon reduction commitment scheme with effect from 1 April 2014.

Three key changes relating to the 2014/15 funding arrangements were outlined; resourced provision, pupil premium grant and Academy agreements. The regulation changes were supported by the Local Authority.

The current 14 – 19 partnership representative on Schools Forum needed to be renamed to 16 – 19 provider representative and Stockport Council needed to review the current Academy arrangements to identify if the DfE regulation regarding excluded pupils was included.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That an update report on reviewing the current Academy arrangements to identify if the DfE regulation regarding excluded pupils was included be submitted to a future meeting.

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

The report provides an update on the 2014/15 Schools Funding Reform requirements and the Schools Local Funding Formula Review Group work stream and re-visits the subject of support services and/or other resource budgets delegated to schools and the option of de-delegation for maintained schools.

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) which gave an update on the 2014/15 Schools Funding Reform requirements and the Schools Local Funding Formula Review Group work stream.

It was reported that there were three key changes in relation to the deployment of dedicated school grant funding including; membership of post-16 representation at Schools Forum, un-spent funding for infant class size and pupil growth, which would be added to the subsequent year’s formula and a post-16 funding reduction to £10,000 which was in-line with pre-16 funding.

The Schools Local Funding Formula Review Group established in May 2013 had reviewed a series of options which would now be presented to the wider stakeholder audience alongside further options determined by the Local Authority (LA) later in the Autumn term as part of the Schools Financial Consultation document.

The 2013/14 funding reforms required a number of service budgets to be delegated to schools from April 2013, as outlined in the table at 4.2 of the report. The maintained primary and secondary schools had the option of ‘de-delegation’ back to the LA which must be reviewed on an annual basis. Primary and Secondary representative’s on the Forum needed to discuss this aspect with their wider stakeholders and report their formal decision at the next meeting of Schools Forum.

Falling Numbers on Roll was a new item for 2014/15 which allowed LA’s to retain a central fund from the Schools Block prior to the formula calculation in order to provide support where a future increase in population was expected. It was confirmed that any unspent money would go back to schools via the formula in the following year. It was commented that the impact on schools needed to be minimised and the strategy applied in the past to primary schools should not be repeated as the predicted recovery time was short.

‘Capping’ of schools budgets gaining through the local funding formula was required to ensure total schools budget costs remained with the envelope of funding available in the Schools Block. It was confirmed that the ‘capping’ level needed to be the same for both the primary and secondary sector and that it would be reviewed annually.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That primary and secondary school representatives discuss the ‘de-delegated’ service areas with their wider teams and report their decision at the next meeting of Schools Forum scheduled for 5 December 2013.

(3) That a proposal around a central fund to support secondary schools with falling numbers on roll be submitted to the next meeting of Schools Forum scheduled for 5 December 2013.

(4) That the option chosen by School Forum Members for the capping of school budgets be “No capping level with an agreed scaling factor”.

(5) That an update report on un-spent funding for infant class size and pupil growth be submitted to a future meeting once the October census data had been collated.

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

The report provides details of the proposed Schools Financial Consultation document to be launched with all governing bodies this term.

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) which provided Schools Forum members with details of the proposed Schools Financial Consultation document which was expected to be launched to all governing bodies on Monday 14 October 2013.

A series of briefing sessions had been organised for school governors and Headteachers at The Alma Lodge Hotel, Buxton Road, Stockport as follows:-

·           29 October 2013 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm aimed at School Governors

·           31 October 2013 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm aimed at Primary Headteachers

·           Peter Hughes would attend the Secondary Headteachers weekly meeting on 31 October 2013 at 11:00 am.

The consultation would run until 29 November 2013 and a report would be presented to Schools Forum members at the January 2014 meeting to seek a recommendation of the preferred option for the Local Funding Formula to be put forward to the Council’s Executive meeting. A separate report on the Local Authority proposals relating to the update of the Scheme for Financing Schools document would be presented to Schools Forum for their approval.

It was confirmed that the local funding formula would be reviewed again after one year as the DfE continued to move to a National Funding Formula from April 2015.

The following recommendations were made:-

·           That a clear, concise and informative summary was needed

·           That a winners and losers context be added

·           That a correlation between numbers on roll and the lump sum be made clearer

·           A recognition of the pupil premium grant be added

·           That the word “large” on paragraph four on page 50 (Annex 2) be deleted

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

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

The report provides an update on the schedule of meetings for the 2013/14 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) which gave an update on the schedule of meetings for the 2013/14 academic year.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

No other business was discussed.

To agree the date of the next meeting scheduled for Thursday 5 December 2013.

RESOLVED – That the next meeting be held on Thursday 5 December 2013 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.