Agenda and minutes

The Chair introduced Norrie Williams, Special School Governor, to his first meeting of the Forum.

Apologies for absence were received from Helen Hilton, David Marshall, Linda McGrath, Danny Pearson and Colin Short.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 20 March 2014.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 20 March 2014 were approved as a correct record.

To discuss any matters arising.

(a) De-delegation

With regard to Minute 11(2) of the meeting held on 20 March 2014, a representative of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services reported that he had contacted the Department for Education with regard to the Forum’s request that consideration be given to how the de-delegation in the future could be approved for three years as opposed to one year in order to assist schools’ future planning. He had been advised that the decision had to be formally taken on an annual basis, although there was scope for a local agreement to be reached.

RESOLVED – That the issue be considered by the appropriate head teachers’ consortia and then re-considered by the Forum at a future meeting.

(b) School Meals

RESOLVED – (1) That the Corporate Director for People investigate previous information provided to the Forum relating to the number of Stockport children known to be eligible for free school meals and the actual number registered/taking up and any impact on schools funding.

(2) That the Corporate Director for People follow up the matter of no information/communication provided to schools relating to individual school capital allocation of the universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) grant funding.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services

The report provides members of the Forum with an executive summary report of the business matters included on the main agenda.

The Forum is recommended to note the executive summary and offer any views, comments and feedback to be considered for future Executive summary reports.

Officer Contact: Peter Hughes on 0161 474 3947 or 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 members of the Forum with an executive summary report of the business matters on the agenda. This had been produced following a recommendation in the Schools Forum ‘Operational and Good Practice Guide’ published in October 2013.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services

The report updates the Forum on current developments from Internal Audit, Risk and Insurance Services, and provides a summary outline of all school audit activity from October 2013 to March 2014.

The Forum is recommended to note the report.

Officer Contact: John Pearsall on 0161 474 4033 or email: john.pearsall@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) updating the Forum on current developments from Internal Audit, Risk and Insurance Services, and providing an outline summary of all school audit activity from October 2013 to March 2014.

The Forum was advised that in the future audit resources would be targeted towards risk rather than the traditional cyclical approach to audit reviews. Assurance would be more effective as key risk systems such as payroll, procurement, IT and data security would be audited across a range of schools and key findings would then be communicated to schools. This would bring key issues to the attention of all schools much quicker and more effectively. The use of the continuous auditing model would help to identify errors, data quality issues and potential fraud by generating key exception reports.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services

The report sets out the final 2013/14 outturn position of the Dedicated Schools Grant.

The Forum is recommended to note the report and offer any views to be reported to the Corporate Director for People.

Officer Contact: Peter Hughes on 0161 474 3947 or 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) setting out the final 2013/14 outturn position of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). The final DSG allocation for 2013/14 totalled £169.204m after the deduction of any recoupment via the national arrangements relating to converter academies.

The Corporate Director for People had considered the options for the deployment of the DSG surplus (£1.090m) and had agreed that the 2013/14 underspend (£0.525m – not including service carry-forward requests approved) would be assigned to the DSG reserve fund pending the outcome of the following:-

·         Identified in year budget pressures (ie specialist school place provision)

·         Review of the DSG budget construction; and

·         Known 2015/16 DSG budget pressures.

RESOLVED – That the report, in particular the deployment of the DSG surplus, be noted.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services

The report provides members of the Forum with final detailed analysis of the total school balances position recorded as at 31 March 2014.

The Forum is recommended to note the report.

Officer Contact: Peter Hughes on 0161 474 3947 or 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 members of the Forum with a final detailed analysis of the total school balances position recorded as at 31 March 2014.

The Forum was advised that school balances at the end of the 2013/14 financial year had reduced by £0.561m and total school balances as at 31 March 2014 were £11.888m which was approximately 8% of the overall delegated schools budget share.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services

The report provides members of the Forum with an update on the level of school reserves held in relation to insurance schemes that are administered by the local authority, and provides information how the reserves held by the local authority in relation to administered insurance schemes are used.

The Forum is requested to aupport the local authority proposal to retain the LTS reserve at £0.227m, discuss the progress and future deployment of ear-marked monies for the Risk Management training, etc and support the proposal outlined re-distribute the surplus funds relating to Laptops and BoR schemes.

Officer Contact: Peter Hughes on 0161 474 3947 or 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 members of the Forum with an update on the level of school reserves held in relation to insurances services that were administered by the local authority, and providing information how the reserves held by the local authority in relation to administered insurance schemes were used. The local authority operated and administered three separate insurance schemes on behalf of schools, namely long term sickness, laptops and balance of risks.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the local authority’s proposal to retain the long term sickness reserve at £0.227m be supported.

(3) That the £0.149m balance of monies previously earmarked for risk management initiatives be further deployed for that purpose.

(4) That the reported in-year balance relating to both laptops (£0.007m) and balance of risks (£0.140m) be re-distributed to the schools opting into such schemes in 2013/14 on a per pupil basis.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services

The Forum is requested to share information with the wider school sector population and seek to explore further collaboration opportunities and/or implement identified “good practice”; identify and inform schools finance team of any alternative and/or further training/support required; and offer any further comments and/or request any further actions to be undertaken.

Officer Contact: Peter Hughes on 0161 474 3947 or 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 an update on the requirement for schools to complete the self-assessment process against the Schools Financial Value Standard (SFVS), information regarding the schools which were supported by the Council’s Schools Finance team via a Service Level Agreement and providing details of good practice identified across the sectors.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the information be shared with the wider school population and further collaboration opportunities be sough and/or ‘good practice’ implemented.

(3) That the Schools Finance team be advised of any alternative and/or further training/support which was required.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services

The report provides members of the Forum with an update on the latest position on national schools funding for 2015/16 and provide details of the Stockport response submitted to the recent national consultation on the matter.

The Forum is recommended to discuss the report and offer any views to the Services to People Management Team.

Officer Contact: Peter Hughes on 0161 474 3947 or 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 members of the Forum with an update on the latest position on national schools funding for 2015/16 and providing details of the Stockport response to the recent national consultation on the matter.

The Forum was advised that the Department for Education (DfE) had announced in March 2014 that the planned introduction of a new national fairer funding formula (NFFF) to distribute the national schools funding pot (ie the Dedicated Schools Grant) would now be deferred until April 2016 at the earliest. The DfE had announced that there would be an additional £350m of funding made available to those poorly funded areas in most need and had launched a consultation document to seek views on the distribution of such monies. Furthermore given the delay in the implementation of a new NFFF to distribute the DSG funding to local authorities, the DfE had also announced that at school level the Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) protection system would continue to apply in 2015/16 at the current -1.5% per pupil. Based on the current methodology, Stockport Council and schools would not receive any of the additional £350m.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the Corporate Director for People be requested to check if members of the Forum had previously been advised that all pupils who were eligible for free school meals would have been automatically captured by the local authority.

(3) That the Forum give further consideration to the ‘Fairer Schools Funding in 2015/16’ consultation document released by the Department for Education on 13 March 2014.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for corporate and Support Services

The report provides members of the Forum with the details of the latest information released by the Department for Education regarding all local authorities 2014/15 schools local formula funding models implemented.

The Forum is recommended to note the report.

Officer Contact: Peter Hughes on 0161 474 3947 or 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 members of the Forum with the details of the latest information released by the Department for Education regarding the implementation of all local authorities 2014/15 schools local formula funding models.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the national data be examined further by the Forum.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services

The Forum is recommended to:-

·         Agree the proposed schedule of meetings for the academic year 2014/15 as outlined at section 3.2;

·         Discuss and agree the venue of such meetings at section 3.2;

·         Request any reports for future meetings;

·         Discuss any amendment to the forward planner; and

·         Request any items for training/development sessions.

Officer Contact: Peter Hughes on 0161 474 3947 or 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  members of the Forum with details of the remaining meeting scheduled for the academic year 2013/14 and provisional dates for the academic year 2014/15.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the proposed schedule of meetings for the academic year 2014/15 be approved, subject to the meeting scheduled to be held on Thursday 2 July 2015 being held on Thursday 9 July 2015.

(3) That meetings continue to be held at the ICT Centre, Kingsway School, Broadway Campus.

(4) That certain training for new members of the Forum be provided on an individual basis if requested.

The Chair reported that there was no longer a Vice-Chair of the Forum since Damian Cunningham ceased to be a member.

RESOLVED – That, in connection with this issue, an updated version of the Terms of Reference for the Forum be submitted to the next meeting.

There were no items of ‘Any Other Business’.

The next meeting of the Forum is scheduled to be held at 4.15pm on Thursday 3 July 2014.

RESOLVED – That the next meeting of the Forum be held on Thursday 3 July 2014 at the ICT Centre, Kingsway School, Broadway Campus with an optional question and answer session on reports to be considered to be held prior to the commencement of the meeting at 3.45pm.