Agenda and minutes

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2012

            Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 6^th March 2012 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

The Forum considered a report by Steve Haley (Head of Finance –Education and Innovation) regarding the closure of the Local Authority’s 2011/12 accounts and the final Dedicated Schools Grant retained budget and Standards Fund grant outturn position. 

Mr Haley advised that the overall outturn position on the 2011/12 retained budget was more favourable than anticipated as a net underspend of £508,100, which equated to 2.6%, had been achieved. This had been carried forward and added to the £49k underspend from 2010/11.  In addition the LA had agreed with DfE that £428,542 was the final balance of unspent Standards Fund grants and this had also been carried forward.   Mr Haley reminded Forum Members that this underspend position was broadly in line with the March 2012 forecasts and that the Forum had agreed at the last meeting to provide one-off transitional protection totalling £589,451 to 12 primary and 3 secondary schools which were adversely affected by the redistribution of former standards fund grants in the 2012/13 local formula.  

Mr Haley advised that following the payment of the transitional protection to schools, £396,199 remained available for use in 2012/13 and the Local Authority had identified two potential areas of spend from this funding which the Schools Forum was asked to support.

a)    During the 2012/13 formula consultation it had been recognised that schools employing Advanced Skills Teachers (AST’s) might need additional support towards redundancy or salary protection costs.  Mr Haley advised that three AST’s were being retained at South Marston, Oaktree and Even Swindon, schools and were entitled to three years’ salary protection payable from 1 September 2012.  Paragraph 2.8 of the report set out the terms of the funding provided up to 31^st March 2012 to assist schools with these costs which were in accordance with the former Standards Fund Grant.  From April 2012 this funding ceased and after assessing the financial implications on each of the three schools and taking into account the DfE school funding reform which prohibited the LA from making any protection funding beyond the current year, the LA was proposing to fund 50% of salary protection costs but no backfill funding.  This equated to £9,102 for South Marston, £22,410 for Oaktree, and £6,310 for Even Swindon (with the figure for Even Swindon updated at the meeting to recognise that their AST was part time).  Mr Haley reported to the Forum that the two of the schools concerned were dissatisfied with the recommendation, believing that the full cost should be met.  The LA was sympathetic to their position but the DfE do not allow on-going support to be provided and the schools do have scope to sell their AST service to other schools.  The Forum supported the 50% payments as recommended, totalling £37,822.

b)    Mr Haley advised that Gorse Hill had received 3 full terms (12 months) of Flat Rate Funding following the amalgamation of the Infant and Junior Schools in accordance with the local formula but the school remains in dispute with the LA about  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

The Forum received a late report from Steve Haley (Head of Finance –Education and Innovation) on Swindon’s final Dedicated Schools Grant settlement covering the 2012/13 financial year.  The report had been added late as information had only become available from DfE after the agenda was published and action was required prior to the next Schools Forum meeting.  

Mr Haley advised that Swindon’s final Dedicated Schools Grant settlement has been confirmed by DfE a little earlier than in previous years and for 2012/13 would be £140,199m which is £0.361m (0.3%) higher than the value assumed at the last Forum meeting.  £0.277m of the increase relates to Early Year’s pupils where an adjustment is done to fund an assumed minimum take up level.  It was recommended that this funding is allocated to fund Early Years expansion to increase capacity in parts of the Borough where demand was high, and where there was a shortfall in the number of places required by September 2013.  

It was recommended that the remaining increase of £0.084m relating to schools and alternative provision be held to for distribution across the local formula in 2013/14, unless urgent cost pressures arose during the year which would be reported to the Forum. 

Mr Haley also informed the Forum that the Department of Education (DfE) had advised that the Local Authority had technically breached the Central Expenditure Limit (CEL) on planned use of the Dedicated Schools Grant in 2012/13.  The CEL measure was established to ensure that retained spending did not increase by a greater proportion than delegated spending unless this has been approved by Schools Forums.   This was a technical breach only arising from the DfE’s calculation failing to reflect Academy conversions.  According to DfE Swindon’s retained spending had reduced by 4.2% whilst delegated funding had reduced by 35%.  However the value of delegated funding in this calculation excludes Academy budgets and when this is factored in to provide like for like comparisons the total of delegated funding actually increased by 3.1% in line with the position reported to the 6^th March 2012 Schools Forum.  The Forum noted that the DfE had confirmed it was aware of the error within its calculation but still required the technical breach to be reported to the Forum.

Resolved – That the Schools Forum:

1.     Notes that Swindon’s final Dedicated Schools Grant settlement covering the 2012/13 financial year is £140.199m and that this represents additional funding of £0.361m over and above the Local Authority’s March 2012 estimate.

2.     Notes that a total of £0.277m specifically relates to Early Years and agrees that this one-off funding is retained by the Local Authority to build capacity in early years settings.

3.     Agrees that the residual additional Dedicated Schools Grant funding of £0.084m is retained for future use, probably redistribution across the local formula in 2013/14.  

4.     Notes that the Local Authority has “technically breached” the Central Expenditure Limit when setting the 2012/13 retained budget.

Sarah Higgins (Finance Manager, Education and Innovation) presented a report advising on the final position on 31^st March 2012 school revenue balances compared to the estimated position as forecast by schools.   This information formed part of the revised trial scheme for monitoring and managing school balances approved by the Forum in March 2012. 

The report provided information at Appendix A on how effective each Swindon school had been in accurately forecasting their 31^st March 2012 balances.  This appendix showed that 67% of schools had been effective in their forecasting and were commended by the LA whilst only six schools would be contacted for explanations as to why their estimates were so different to final figures.  Miss Higgins advised the Forum that seven schools which had been inaccurate in the previous year had all improved considerably. Further reports providing information on school balances will be reported to the October 2012 and January 2013 Schools Forum meetings.

Resolved – That the Schools Forum notes that:

1.    The vast majority of Swindon Schools (67%) were commendably accurate in forecasting their year end balances

2.    Only 6 schools reported significant variances between their forecast and actual outturn positions and will be contacted by the Local Authority for explanations which may prompt support to be provided to improve forecasting procedures

3.    Actual school balances were £1.4m higher than was forecast in early January which equates to a 25% under estimate across all sectors - excluding Academies.

Nikki Soave (Internal Audit) presented a report to the Forum regarding the requirements of the new Schools Financial Value Standard, which non-academy schools were now required to complete once a year and submit to the Local Authority, to demonstrate that they have sound financial management practice and processes in place.

It was noted that the self-assessment could be completed by schools at any point up to 31^st March 2013 and they could seek assistance from the Local Authority to complete it.  The results would inform Internal Audit’s programme for school audits.

Resolved – That the Schools Forum:

1.    Notes the requirements of the School Financial Value Standards. 

The Forum considered a report by Steve Haley (Head of Finance –Education and Innovation) regarding the implications of the ‘Schools Funding Reform: next steps to a fairer system’ document issued by the Department for Education on 26^th March 2012.  In addition, an update was tabled at the meeting, advising of further details of the school funding reform arrangements for 2013/14 which had been issued by the Department for Education on 29^th June 2012.

Mr Haley talked members through key points in the report and the tabled update commenting on the most significant implications.   He outlined the proposed consultation arrangements with each sector and the timeline leading up to the finalisation of the 2013/14 formula funding allocations. 

An overview of the main changes was provided in the following areas:

a)     The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) – Mr Haley confirmed that the DSG would no longer be split between ‘Individual School Budgets’ and the ‘Centrally Retained Budget’ but would be allocated in 3 initially un-ringfenced funding blocks: ‘High Needs Block’, ‘Early Years Block’ and ‘Schools Block’. 

The Local Authority could continue to manage / provide a restricted range of central services such as Admissions and equal pay.  In some cases the amounts retained per sector and methodology for distribution must be approved by each sector’s voting members on the Schools Forum.  The Forum voted and agreed in principle that funding should continue to be retained and utilised for the following items as set out in page 2 of the update paper on: i) contingencies for pupil growth in all settings, ii) contingencies for schools in challenging circumstances / redundancies, iii) cost of opening / closing Academies / Schools, iv) free school meals eligibility assessments, v) trade union staff absence cover; and vi) the travellers service.

       Ms Lauren Connor raised a query as to the liability for staff redundancy costs when staff had transferred under TUPE to an academy.  It was agreed that this required further resolution and the Forum deferred a vote on the principle of whether funding should be retained for vii) the Drove BME Project and viii) the Nylands Primary Behaviour Outreach support service.

       Mr Haley drew to the Forum’s attention to those areas of retained budget which would need to be delegated in 2013/14, in line with the expectation that as much of the DSG would be delegated as possible.  The LA was recommending that this funding is allocated initially as an inflationary uplift across all areas of the new formula.  With regard to the requirement to reduce Schools in Challenging circumstances funding, Mr Nick Capstick raised a concern that this could result in problems for individual schools in need of support whilst the value distributed across all schools would be relatively minor.  Mr Paddy Bradley (Head of Commissioning, Economy / Attainment) confirmed that it was the intention of the Government for LAs to reduce central funding and it would be increasingly up to schools to fund their own improvements.  It was not possible to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The next meeting of the Forum will be on Tuesday, 9 October 2012 at 4.00 p.m. in Committee Room 6, Civic Offices, Swindon

It was noted that the next meeting of the Forum was scheduled for 9^th October 2012.

Mr Peter Crockett advised that this was his last meeting as Chair and a member of the Forum as he was retiring shortly.  Mr Bradley thanked him on behalf of the Forum for his excellent chairing.   It was noted that the process for the election of a new Chair would be included in the discussions as to the arrangements for the new Schools Forum coming into effect from 1 October 2012.