Agenda and minutes

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 10^th December 2019.

Resolved – (1) That further to Minute 16, the minutes be updated to state:

·        How the 0.5% transfer into the High Needs Block will only review some of the schools (47/78) as the minimum per pupil funding levels are mandatory.

See explanatory note below. Please phone the Committee Officer whose name and number appears at the top of this agenda if you need further guidance.

Members have previously agreed that public questions were to be submitted in writing at least 24 hours prior to a meeting to enable officers to provide a detailed response.

There were no public questions.

The Finance Manager, Education, presented a report updating the Forum on the 2020/21 Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) settlement, including (a) estimates of the level of expenditure to be allocated to Early Years, Schools, Academies, High Needs settings and centrally retained budgets, (b) the submission of the Authority Proforma Toolkit to the Education Funding Agency, the tool used to enable mainstream budgets to be calculated, (c) expenditure proposals for all High Needs block funded items including High Needs students in Mainstream schools, Special schools, Special Resourced Provisions, Alternative Provision, Post-16 and Further Education, Independent and Non-Maintained Special Schools and Other Local Authority Commissioned High Needs, and (d) submission of the Section 251 Budget Statement to the Education Funding Agency by end of April 2020.

The Finance Manager, Education, guided members through the key points in the report, commenting on the most significant implications.  She referred to the information released by Education and Skills Funding Agency (‘ESFA’) on 19^th December 2019 regarding the Dedicated Schools Grant Settlement for 2020/21 and elaborated on income and expenditure for the period. 

Following the introduction of the report, the Finance Manager, Education with the Chair Sally Burnett, Commissioner, Routes to Employment, responded to members’ comments and questions in respect of the following matters:

• How and why the current minimum funding guarantee differed from the previous year.
• Factors that may affect the Schools Forum decision when determining the School Funding Formula Options and confirmation of deadlines for a decision to be made by members.
• How the increase in the High Needs Budget expenditure plans related to the increase in demand and complexity of cases of pupils accessing this support but was not met in full by the change in the funding formula.

·         How, In 2018/19 Schools Forum approved the transfer of 0.5% of DSG schools block to High Needs block to help to meet demand pressures.  No transfer of funding between blocks was agreed for 2019/20. The transfer in 2018/19 equated to £0.659m.

• How the SEND High Needs Round Table meeting held recently discussed improvements to be made by all settings and not just the LA to in regards to spending funds allocated to the Block and how it would be beneficial if all schools were invited to future meetings to enable a debate to be undertaken enabling all schools to support each other through this process.  Secondary Schools, special schools and schools with Special Resource Provisions were included in the January invitation.
• Concerns regarding the Admissions Budget and the need to benchmark against other local authorities.      
• The pressure on the High Needs budget as Swindon has a higher than national average number of pupils accessing support.
• Further to Table 12, a breakdown of what constituted High Needs Top Ups and whilst activity had increased, the funding allocated had not increased.
• Placements available in Special Resource Provision settings and how this affected funding. 
• Further to Table 19, the contributions to the budget from Children Services, Social Care Services and the Health Department towards out of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.