Agenda and minutes

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

Apologies for absence were received from Heather Cooper, Damian Cunningham, Helen Hilton, Councillor Paul Porgess, and Mark Sibson.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 4 December 2014.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 4 December 2014 were approved as a correct record.

To discuss any matters arising.

School Excessive Surplus Balance Update (Minute number 10 of 4 December 2014)

With regard to minute number 10 from the meeting held on 4 December 2014 regarding School Excessive Surplus Balance Update, it was confirmed that the matter of the ‘clawback’ would be dealt with following the completion of the annual closure of accounts process and further updates (including any Schools Forum actions) dealt with via further reports as appropriate.

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

The report provides Schools Forum members 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) which provided members of the Forum with an executive summary report of the business matters on the agenda.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

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

The report provides Schools Forum members with an update on the latest election and membership information.

Schools Forum members are asked to note the report.

Officer Contact: Peter Hughes on 0161 474 3947 or email peter.hughes.gov.uk.

A representative of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which provided Forum members with an update on election and membership matters.

The Local Authority Governor Support Service team had facilitated an election process of all VA schools during autumn 2014 and sought nominations for the VA Governor position on the Schools Forum.

Following completion of this process, it was confirmed that Tony Martin of St Ambrose Catholic Primary School was the new VA Governor representative and began his new term of office from January 2015.

The primary sector head teachers had discussed recruitment to the current vacant post at their recent Primary Headteacher Consortia meeting held on 13 January 2015 and an update was to be provided at the next meeting of the Schools Forum.

RESOLVED – (i) That the report be noted.

(ii) Primary Headteacher Consortia (PHC) inform the Local Authority of new Schools Forum representatives as soon as they are identified/agreed and

(iii) That Secondary Headteachers are asked to ensure that they send a representative to the Schools Forum meetings.

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

The report provides Schools Forum members with detail of the level of responses received to the consultation document and the issues/concerns raised accordingly and to provide details of the Corporate Director for Services to People decisions and/or proposals to be presented to the Council Executive.

Schools Forum members are asked to note the report, note the proposals and/or decisions outlined at section 6.1; and offer any further views to be reported back to the Corporate Director for Services to People for further consideration prior to presentation of report to the Executive.

Officer Contact: Peter Hughes on 0161 474 3947 or email peter.hughes.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 level of responses received to the consultation document and the issues/concerns raised accordingly and also provided details of the Corporate Director for Services to People decisions and/or proposals which were to be presented to the Council Executive.

The Corporate Director for Services to People had determined the following:

a)    Local Funding Formula

The Corporate Director for Services to People would recommend to the Council Executive that the school local funding formula be updated as follows:

·         Increase the BE formula factor to 73% in 2015/16;

·         A further increase to 75% be implemented from April 2016; and

·         The above redistribution be applied by reduction to all other formula factor levels except the lump sum (i.e. as per principle applied in Model 2 in the consultation document)

b)    Resourced Provision

The Corporate Director for Services to People had determined the following:

·         The proposal and the subsequent funding model be deferred until at least September 2016; and

·         The review group to be re-commissioned to undertake further review during the period January to September 2015 and report back accordingly.

c)    Early Years

The Corporate Director for Services to People has determined:

·         No decision would be made on any reduction to the base rate funding levels in the EYSFF model until such time as all information was available and assessed in relation to the 2015/16 DSG settlement and the local cost pressures and savings within the total Schools Budget framework.

The following comments were made/issues raised:

·         Members expressed concerns that the change in the Local Authority funding formula meant that funding was being moved away from deprivation and towards basic entitlement.

·         Members were advised that when constructing the formula and/or proposing amendments there is no assessment undertaken of the level of school surplus balance held by individual schools at any point.  Deployment of surplus balance is a decision for each individual school and should be discussed and approved with the governors. Schools can sometimes carry high balances according to what activities and /or schemes are planned for the future in line with their stated aims and objectives within the School Improvement Plan (capital works for example).  If schools continue to consistently carry forward high balances then the money may be clawed back by the Local Authority as per the updated Scheme for Financing Schools document.  The claw back level is currently set at 12% of delegated budget resources. 

·         Representatives of the Early Years, Private, Voluntary and Independent sector providers emphasised that they would like the Early Years base rate funding level to be protected, particularly in the light of the speech made by the Childcare and Education Minister, who spoke on this issue at a conference in London last week.

·         It was pointed out that compared to other Local Authorities, Stockport had one of the higher Early Years base rates.  However Local Authority cost pressures on the overall Schools Budget financed predominantly by the DSG meant that lowering the base rates was being considered.

·         Concerns were expressed that under resourcing would impact on the more deprived communities and be detrimental to the Borough as a whole.

RESOLVED – (i) That the report be noted.

(ii) That Local Authority officers feedback the Schools Forum views/issues raised to the Corporate Director for Services to People.

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

The report provides Schools Forum members with details of the 2015/16 Schools Funding settlement information released by the Department for Education (DfE) on 17 December 2014.

Schools Forum members are asked to note the report.

Officer Contact: Peter Hughes on 0161 474 3947 or email peter.hughes.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 2015/16 Schools Funding settlement information which had been released by the Department for Education (DfE) on 17 December 2014.

The 2015/16 DSG allocation would differ from the 2014/15 baseline in the following ways:

·         All previous non-recoupment academies (NRAs) such as Stockport Academy and Stockport Technical School (formerly SK1) pupil numbers were now included in the initial baseline allocation;

·         Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme costs were now top sliced from all LA allocations via a £7.51 per pupil top-slice;

·         The new Early Years Pupil Premium grant was to be implemented from April 2015 and was included in baseline allocations and

·         All 2 year old offer funding would be allocated on actual participation levels taken from January 2015 and autumn term 2015 pupil census count data (no indicative allocations had been provided to Local Authorities within the autumn term 2014 announcement information).

The following comments were made/issues raised:

·         Members commented that pupil premium money had been lost because benefits had not been processed quickly enough.

·         Members questioned whether the numbers included those people who had not claimed free school meals.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

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

This report provides Schools Forum members with an update on the construction of the 2015/16 Schools Budget financed by the dedicated schools grant (DSG) and any other schools funding related matters.

Schools Forum members are asked to note the report, formally determine the secondary sector decision re de-delegation matters for 2015/16, approve the budgetary resources assigned to each statutory function as detailed at section 5 and approve the budgetary resources (£0.300m) assigned to the central reserve to finance costs relating to basic need provision of school places and/or adherence to infant class size initiative requirements as per section 6.

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) which provided Schools Forum members with an update on the construction of the 2015/16 Schools Budget financed by the dedicated schools grant (DSG) and any other schools funding related matters.

Members were advised that the Local Authority was required by statutory regulation to adhere to the minimum funding guarantee (MFG) and ensure no school received a delegated budget share that reduced by more than -1.5 per pupil from that received in the previous funding period.

The cost of applying the MFG protection system to the identified schools was a cost pressure on the overall DSG allocation received and the Local Authority was permitted to apply a capping system to the level of gains afforded to schools gaining in the distribution of the delegated budget share to contain total costs within the available resources.

At the last meeting, Schools Forum members agreed to support the Local Authority intention to continue with the application of a ‘scaling back’ system to all schools gaining via the local funding formula model.

The total cost of MFG to the Local Authority in the 2015/16 local funding formula model was still to be finalised and a report would be submitted to the Schools Forum in March 2015. 

Schools Forum members representing the primary sector confirmed at the December 2014 meeting, full de-delegation for all areas.  Secondary sector representatives were to discuss this with their wider sector colleagues at the weekly head teachers meeting held on Thursday 15 January 2015.

The Local Authority would provide budgetary provision to meet the costs of copyright licences procured nationally by the DfE on behalf of all schools and academies.  Additional licenses had been factored into the agreement from 1 April 2015 and costs are estimated to rise by approximately two thirds from charges in 2014/15.  The Local Authority was awaiting final detailed information from the DfE, which was due later this month to inform the final 2015/16 Schools Budget setting process.  Based on current information the budget estimate is circa £0.160m.

RESOLVED (i) That the report be noted.

(ii) That the information relating to the capping of school budgets is noted.

(iii) That the information relating to support services and other centrally held budgets supporting maintained schools via the ‘De-Delegation’ option is noted.

(iv)That the secondary sector decision regarding de-delegation matters for 2015/2016 is formally determined.  Peter Hughes to urgently contact the secondary school sector and to report back at the next meeting.

(v) That the budgetary resources assigned to each statutory function as detailed in Section five of the report be approved.

(vi) That the budgetary resources (£0.300m) assigned to the central reserve to finance costs relating to basic need provision of school places and/or adherence to infant class size (ICS) initiative requirements, as per Section 6 of the report, be approved.

(vii) That Local Authority Officers provide detail of the schools supported in 2014/15 under the ICS initiative and confirm the position in relation to any funding to support schools in such matters for 2015/16.

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

The report provides Schools Forum members with details of the SEN Consultation (Call for Evidence) launched by the DfE to inform the future shape of how SEN funding distributed to local authorites to support SEN children.

Schools Forum members are asked 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) which provided Schools Forum members with details of the SEN Consultation (Call for Evidence) launched by the DFE to inform the future shape of how SEN funding distributed to Local Authorities to support SEN children.

The consultation period/request for evidence deadline was 27 February 2015, which was before the next Schools Forum meeting.

The Local Authority considered that this was an important opportunity to contribute to national debate and endeavour to influence the best outcome possible for Stockport pupils with regard to the future shape of distribution of funding for high needs pupils.

The Local Authority was keen to co-ordinate a joint Local Authority/Schools Forum response and a meeting was to be arranged for the Schools Forum and the 0-25 Implementation Board to discuss the consultation document and determine a joint response according.  Further details of the meeting would be forwarded to all Schools Forum members in due course.

RESOLVED – (i) That the report be noted.

(ii)  The Local Authority will send details of the joint Schools Forum/0.25 Implementation Board meeting to be held to discuss the document and prepare a joint Local Authority/Schools Forum response.

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

The report provides Schools Forum members with details of the scheduled meetings for the 2014/15 academic year and the opportunity to request reports for future meetings and items for training/development sessions.

Schools Forum members are invited to consider the detailed recommendations in 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) which provided Schools Forum members with details of the scheduled meetings for the 2014/15 academic year and the opportunity to request reports for future meetings and items for training/development sessions. 

The Schedule of meetings for the 2014/15 academic year was as follows:

Thursday 19 March 2015

Thursday 21 May 2015

Thursday 9 July 2015.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

There was no other business.

RESOLVED – That the next meeting of the Schools Forum be held on Thursday 19 March 2015 at Castle Hill High School, The Fairway, Offerton 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.