Agenda and minutes

Ian Roberts (Vice-Chair) reported that Paul Carter (Chair) had passed his apologies and therefore Ian would take the Chair for the duration of the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Paul Carter, Karen Southwick and Dawn Taylor.

No observers were reported as present.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2015.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2015 (copies of which had been circulated) were approved as a correct record.

To discuss any matters arising.

There were no matters arising.

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.

Schools 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 the Forum with an executive summary of the business matters included on the main agenda.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for People.

The report provides an update on whether the numbers of three & four year old children attending maintained nursery schools and classes were being affected by the growth in uptake of 2 year olds receiving early education funding.

Schools Forum is 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 People submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing an update on whether the numbers of three & four year old children attending maintained nursery schools and classes had been affected by the growth in uptake of 2 year olds receiving early education funding.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·         Maintained nurseries were approximately 70% full in September with all but seven having vacancies;

·         Schools with nursery provision were increasingly facing the need to subsidise their nursery costs via funding provided for Reception to Year 6 pupils through the local funding formula;

·         There were high numbers of two year olds within the PVI sector whose parents wanted  them to remain in the same setting until reaching Reception year group age;

·         Maintained nurseries risked losing specialist staff whilst there was a lack of specialist staff in the PVI sector;

·         The current admissions process was perceived to be a major obstruction to planning ahead.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the Director of Education Services be requested to include sustainability and nursery admission arrangements on the agenda for the next Early Years Strategic Group and that representatives of the Primary Sector be invited to attend.

(3) That a representative of the Corporate Director for People be requested to provide a further update at a future meeting.

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

The report provides final details of proposed amendments to the Terms of Reference (ToR) document and a membership update.

Schools Forum is asked 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) providing final details of proposed amendments to the Terms of Reference (ToR) document and a membership update.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That approval be given to the proposed amendment to the election process (Section 4.5).

(3) That approval be given to the proposed amendment to the role of the Executive Member (Section 4.6).

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

The report provides details of the recent consultation document released by the Department for Education (DfE) relating to the School and Early Years Finance Regulations 2015.

Schools Forum is 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) providing details of the recent consultation document released by the Department for Education (DfE) relating to the School and Early Years Finance Regulations 2015.

The DfE launched the consultation document on the Schools and Early Years Finance Regulations 2014 on the 11 September 2015, however the consultation closed head of the next meeting of Schools Forum. The DfE was seeking views on the proposed changes to the Schools and Early Years Finance (England) Regulations. The regulations put in place the new arrangements for local authorities to set school budgets for the financial year 2016/17.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

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

The report provides details of the proposed revisions to the Scheme for Financing Schools document to take effect from April 2016, following due consultation with all school governing bodies in the spring term 2016.

Schools Forum is asked 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) providing details of the proposed revisions to the Scheme for Financing Schools document to take effect from April 2016, following due consultation with all school governing bodies in the spring term 2016.

The consultation document would provide detail on the DfE directed revisions to the Scheme and Local Authority proposed revisions. The Local Authority proposed revisions were based on enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of day to day operational matters, improving financial management, recognition of identified best practice and being responsive to the latest central government guidance/legislation. The proposed revisions would be presented in a formal consultation document and distributed to all schools in January 2016. It was proposed that the consultation period runs for 6 weeks from Monday 4 January to Friday 12 February 2016.

The three key Local Authority proposed revisions were relating to control of assets, service level agreements and contracts and procurement rules. The proposed revisions updated the Scheme to be clearer on specific matters as per the cross-reference exercise undertaken recently to the DfE model or updates to the Scheme to ensure the latest guidance/legislation matters were covered to protect both the Local Authority and Schools in such matters.

The Local Authority proposed to only seek responses from schools where they have any objections to the proposed revisions.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·         Schools should ensure that all leases undertaken on an ad hoc basis were operating leases as opposed to finance leases;

·         The short time frame for the consultation would make it difficult for schools to respond;

·         The timescale of the consultation period was governed by the need to implement the scheme by 1 April 2016;

·         School leaders and Chair of Governors would be contacted prior to the start of the consultation;

·         Concerns were raised about the potential for funding and costs of administering admission appeals being delegated to schools as part of their formula allocation;

·         Approving the scheme would provide the parameters to delegate the admission appeals service if it was necessary but further dialogue would take place before any delegation was implemented;

·         Further explanation was required regarding the delegation of the admission appeals service.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the consultation document be launched as per the draft document presented and discussed.

(3) That the Local Authority only seek responses from schools if they have any objections to the proposed amendments.

A representative of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services will report at the meeting.

A representative of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services reported that the schools budget would be protected in real terms, enabling a per pupil protection for the Dedicated Schools Grant. There would also be an introduction of a new national funding formula from 2017/18 following consultation in 2016.

Free childcare for 3 & 4 years was set to double from September 2017 and there would be investment of £1billion more a year by 2019/20 on free childcare for 2, 3 and 4 year olds. Additionally there would be 30 free hours restricted to single/both parents working 16 hours or more and earning under £100,000.

£23 billion of capital investment would be used to open 500 Free Schools, provide 600,000 additional school places and rebuild and refurbish 500 schools. The Pupil Premium Grant would remain at the same level as 2015/16 and the Universal Infant Free School Meal funding would also be maintained. Savings of £600m would have to be made via the Education Service Grant, reducing the Local Authorities’ role and removing a number of statutory duties. 

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·         The F40 group had done a lot of work lobbying parliament to address the imbalance of distributing the national funding formula;

·         The F40 model had been presented to Department for Education, however there was no guarantee the F40 model would be adopted;

·         The impact of the £600m savings needed to be made from the ESG on the Local Authority was still unknown.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That a representative of the Corporate Director for Corporate and Support Services be requested to submit a formal report on the announcements at the next meeting of the Forum.

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

The report provides an update on the 2016/17 construction of the Schools Budget as per the agreements at the latest review group meeting and details of the proposed plan of work outlined for the next meeting ahead of the 2017/18 budget.

Schools Forum is asked to note the report and endorse the plans outlined at sections 4.1, 4.3 & 4.4.

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 2016/17 construction of the Schools Budget as per the agreements at the latest review group meeting and details of the proposed plan of work outlined for the next meeting ahead of the 2017/18 budget setting process.

The schools block element of the DSG was estimated to provide c. £1.840m of additional funding (headroom) based on an indicative pupil count of 37,036 pupils. £1.402m of the projected headroom would be deployed via local funding formula and £0.438 to high needs central block costs.

The current 2015/16 budget had a requirement to utilise £0.824m of reserves which was carried forward into 2016/17. The Local Authority had identified and discussed a series of “quick win” items with the review group and had considered and discussed the impact of each accordingly and had endorsed the Local Authority plan to reduce/remove the financial resource deployed to extended schools, inclusion support, central reserve and LSS/PRU.  It was estimated that all central school/DSG reserve levels would total c. £1m at 31 March 2016 and thus could be deployed to set a balanced 2016/17 budget without exhausting all reserve levels in full.

Concerns were raised with potential negative impact of reducing the Learning Support Service budget by £50,000 however it was explained that the LSS budget had historically been underspent as there was often additional income raised from Service Level Agreements and other Local Authorities using the service.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the plans outlined at sections 4.1, 4.3 & 4.4 in the report be approved.

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

The report provides an update to Schools Forum members of the estimated 2016/17 revenue funding provided via the dedicated schools grant (DSG) and any other associated funding streams. The report also provides of the 2016/17 budget requirements, plans and timeline and seeks Schools Forum’s decision on De-Delegation matters for 2016/17.

Schools Forum is asked 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) providing an update to Schools Forum members of the estimated 2016/17 revenue funding provided via the dedicated schools grant (DSG) and any other associated funding streams. The report also provided details on the 2016/17 budget requirements, plans and timeline.

The schools block element of funding would continue to be based on the autumn term pupil count information taken from the termly census collection. The school pupil population was estimated at 37,036 with a total of £156,625m, illustrating an additional £1.840m of headroom for the pupil population increase of 436 pupils.

The Local Authority was required to adjust the pupil numbers in the local funding formula to account for schools expanding as part of the basic need provision of school places, therefore the total increase in pupil numbers funded through the formula from the 2015/16 baseline would be 540 pupils. Based on these pupil estimates and application of the process at section 4.2 it would require deployment of approx. £1.402m of the available headroom within the current 2016/17 DSG allocation to the local funding formula model. The remaining £0.438m would then be available for deployment to the high needs block and effectively reduce the requirement to deploy DSG reserves to the baseline budget. The growth in pupil population in turn would mean an increase in the number of pupils qualifying for funding via the other additional factors in the local model (i.e. deprivation, SEN, EAL, etc.) and was accounted for in the estimated £1.402m deployment of available headroom.

The LA is required to submit to the DfE the final annual pro-forma toolkit (APT) of the 2016/17 local funding formula by 22 January 2016 outlining all the individual school/LA detail of the above. The final version will be presented to Schools Forum in January prior to submission.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·         There was a need to increase high needs capacity whenever possible;

·         The secondary sector wished to de-delegate core Behavioural Support Services however wanted service level agreements for wider services;

·         Many secondary schools did not see the Ethnic Diversity Service as a whole as good value for money;

·         Ethnic Diversity Service was a whole service and shouldn’t be seen as solely a English Language Assessment service;

·         Other authorities had lost their Ethnic Diversity Service and could no longer access EAL support;

·         EAL support offered in primary schools often benefitted the secondary sector as the children required less support when completing their transition to secondary education.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the primary sector agrees to de-delegate in full for all six areas as outlined in the table at section 6.4.

(3) That the secondary sector agrees in principle to the reduced de-delegated package offered by Behaviour Support Service in response to the head teacher request received via the consortia and representatives would seek full approval at the first consortia meeting in the New Year.

(4) That the Ethnic Diversity Service be requested to create and present an alternative model proposal for secondary schools to consider at first consortia meeting planned in the New Year.

(5) That the indicative 2016/17 resource levels to be deployed for the central service areas as per section 7.3 be approved.

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

The report provides details of the “Indicative” 2016/17 Local Authority (LA) annual pro-forma toolkit (APT) return submitted to the Department for Education (DfE).

Schools Forum is 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) providing details of the “Indicative” 2016/17 Local Authority (LA) annual pro-forma toolkit (APT) return submitted to the Department for Education (DfE).

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

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

The report provides members with details of the scheduled meetings for the 2015/16 academic year the proposed forward planner of Schools Forum business.

Schools Forum is 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) updating members with details of the scheduled meetings for the 2015/16 academic year and the proposed forward planner of Schools Forum business.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the pre-agenda meeting on Thursday 21 January 2016 be used as training on the DSG framework, including an overview of national distribution, regulations and operational matters.

To discuss any other business.

There was no other business.

The next scheduled meeting of Schools Forum is 21 January 2016.

RESOLVED – That the next meeting of the Schools Forum be held on Thursday 21 January 2016 at Castle Hill High School, The Fairway, Offerton, with an optional training session on the DSG framework to be held prior to the commencement of the meeting at 3.45pm.