Agenda and minutes

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 8^th October 2013.

            Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 8^th October 2013 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

            The Head of Commissioning, Economy & Attainment submitted a report for representatives of primary maintained schools to consider the de-delegation of funding for union facilities time for the financial year 2014/15 and for other schools to consider buying into the service on a subscription basis.

            Paddy Bradley, Head of Commissioning, Economy & Attainment commented on the report and explained the present funding agreement for Union facilities.  Mr Bradley explained that union representatives had a statutory right to take time off to undertake union duties.  He referred to the report explaining the proposed funding options from April 2014 that had been circulated to all Headteachers in November 2013 and advised that discussions had been undertaken with Unions and Headteachers’ Associations. He commented on funding options that included de-delegation of funding for maintained mainstream schools, the levying of subscription charges for maintained special schools and the “buy back” option through the Traded Services facilities for academies. . 

          Peter Smith, Trade Union Representative to the Schools Forum, commented on the work undertaken by Union representatives in and for schools and advised that he was aware of the financial constraints faced by schools.   He felt however, that the proposed costs in Swindon were generally low and represented good value for money.   Mr Bradley and Mr Smith responded to comments put by members on the following points:

            Rachel Mattey, Secondary Headteacher, confirmed that she would agree de-delegation of funding for union facilities time for the financial year 2014/15 at a cost of £1.25 per pupil if this covered all trade unions represented within the school.  As the proposal does not do this, de-delegation was not agreed by the maintained secondary representative.

            Resolved: (1) That Schools Forum representatives of primary maintained schools agree de-delegation of funding for union facilities time for the financial year 2014/15 at a cost of £1.25 per pupil.

          (2) That Schools Forum representatives of maintained special schools and alternative provision settings agree to pay a 2014/15 annual subscription charge equivalent to £1.25 per pupil but using pupil numbers multiplied by 4.

          (3) That, it be noted that, the Schools Forum representative of the maintained secondary school does not agree to de-delegation of funding for union facilities time for the financial year 2014/15 at a cost of £1.25 per pupil.

          (4) That School Forum representative note that academies will be individually invited to subscribe to Trade Union facilities during 2014/15 at a cost of £1.25 per pupil.

            Paddy Bradley, Head of Commissioning, Economy and Attainment, presented a report advising on Schools Forum’ operational and good practice guidance for 2014-15 that had been issued by the Education Funding Agency in October 2013.  He referred to the regulations and advised how the School’s Forum need to be representative of the school’s sector and confirmed that the make-up of non-school group was to be decided at local level.  Mr Bradley advised that the number of secondary pupils shown at paragraph 3.5 should have been 18,269 as opposed to 32,758.

            Mr Bradley responded to queries regarding the following:

·         Clarity on whether schools with 16 to 19 provisions were to be represented under this category.

·         The representation of balance between primary maintained and academy schools.

·         Frequency of Forum membership rotation.

          Resolved: (1) That the content of the operational and good practice guidance for 2014-15 issued by the Education Funding Agency, be noted.

          (2) That a working group comprising of Julie Tridgell, Paul Boyles, David Easter and Rachel Mattey together with Local Authority officers be established to review the good practice guidance and that a report be submitted at the Forum’s meeting in July 2014 with any recommendations to change current practices.

         (3) That the report on the current membership of Schools’ Forum and profile of future Forum membership be noted.

            The Head of Finance, Education and Innovation provided a report on the latest position of the 2013/14 retained Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) budget. Steve Haley, Head of Finance, Education and Innovation advised that the report reflected the projected year end position against the 2013/14 retained budgets based upon available information at the end of November 2013.

            Mr Haley referred to reasons for the predicted underspend that would be carried forward as a balance to the 2014/15 budget and responded to a query regarding Post 16 funding explaining that, although an underspend was being forecast, this was against the enhanced budget which had been supplemented by £1m of 2 year old nursery funding at the start of the year. The LA was therefore still incurring post 16 costs which were substantially in excess of the level of post 16 funding provided by the Department for Education. 

            Resolved: That the Schools Forum notes that based on information available at the end of November 2013, an in year underspend of approximately £0.242m was projected against the 2013/14 retained DSG budget.

            The Head of Finance, Education and Innovation presented a report setting out the latest 2014/15 Dedicated School Grant (DSG) position and other funding available to schools; to secure support for the outstanding elements of the proposed 2014/15 centrally retained budget; and to finalise factors and values to be used to determine 2014/15 mainstream funding allocations relating to schools and academies. 

            Steve Haley, Head of Finance, Education and Innovation referred to the consultation programme undertaken with Swindon Association of Primary Headteachers (SAPH) and Swindon Association of Secondary Headteachers (SASH) regarding the various mainstream factors that would be used to determine 2014/15 funding.  Mr Haley guided members through key points in the report and the tabled annex (which showed how much funding each mainstream school would be receiving next year compared to the current year) commenting on the most significant implications.   He outlined the consultation arrangements with each sector and the timeline leading up to the finalisation of the 2014/15 formula funding allocations.

          Mr Haley referred to the three funding blocks introduced by the Department for Education for the allocation of Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) that had made it harder for the Local Authority to forecast next year’s DSG, particularly in the area of High Needs, and confirmed that this funding was not ring-fenced to specific areas. 

          Paddy Bradley, Head of Commissioning , Economy and Attainment referred to the year on year changes of both pre and post high needs places as submitted in the Local Authority’s December 2013 return and advised that clarity had been sought from the Education Funding Agency as to why certain types of pupils were excluded from the Department for Education template.

         Steve Haley and Paddy Bradley responded to the following points:

·        Work being undertaken by the Looked After Children Education Services (LACES), particularly pertaining to the performance of Looked After Children and the allocation of funding for each pupil.

·         Simplifying Free School Meals application forms to ensure a bigger take-up from eligible parents and to prevent any further under registration arising from the introduction of free school meals for all reception and key stage 1 pupils from September 2014.

·         Concerns regarding the apparent difficulty of completing on-line school admission forms.

·         The need to make best use of the 2 year old Nursery funding including whether the 40p supplement should be repeated and whether DSG revenue funding should be capitalised to invest in expanded provision.

·         Funding for nurseries affected by the Ofsted performance rating.

·         Current funding for high need outreach and the commissioning of services available to academies.

·         At the invitation of the Chair, Mr Walsh, a parent of a pupil at Bishopstone Primary School, addressed the Forum on the effect of the “Sparsity Factor” for Bishopstone School.   Mr Haley responded explaining that the Local Authority would consider introduction of the “Sparsity Factor” after the expected Department for Education review and issue of clearer guidance had been undertaken.   For 2014/15 Bishopstone would actually receive higher funding via the existing Minimum Funding Guarantee(MFG) protection scheme  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.