Agenda and minutes

Resolved – That Peter Wells Chair this meeting of the Forum.

(Peter Wells in the Chair)

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 21 April 2009.

            Resolved - (1) That the minutes of the meeting held on 21 April 2009, be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

            (2) With regard to Minute 43, Paddy Bradley (Director Schools and Learning) advised that a report had been submitted to the Children and Young People’s Partnership Board on 25 June 2009 when the recommendation to provide additional funding through the Dedicated Schools Grant had been agreed.

Certain items are expected to include the consideration of exempt information and the Schools Forum is, therefore, recommended to resolve "That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded during the discussion of the matters referred to in the items listed below, on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in the respective paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information".

            Resolved - That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded during the discussion of the matters referred in Agenda Item 14 on the grounds that it would involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 4 of Schedule 12A to the Act, and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information concerned (Minute 13 refers.)

Karen Murray (Group Finance Manager Children Services) presented a report by the Group Director Children Services to provide feedback on the recommendations made at the previous meeting.

Amendments had been made to the Financial Regulations in light of the comments made. Terri Menham (Primary Headteacher) requested that important information be specifically emailed to the schools and not just posted on-line, as it was very often not noticed.

Nicki Archer (Deputy Group Finance Manager-Schools) presented a report on the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) outturn 2008-09, including the individual schools year-end balances.

It was confirmed that the Council’s guidance for the level of a contingency balance was 5% and comment was made on the very low level at which secondary schools were operating.  

Nicki Archer referred to the Recoupment Budget details set out in Appendix C to the report, and advised that authorities within the South West Region were meeting on 1 October 2009 to get a general agreement on how this funding could be better managed. It was agreed that a report should be submitted to the Forum to advise of the outcome of the meeting. She also advised that an update on the Swindon Young People’s Empowerment Programme was provided at Appendix D and any comments on this should be sent to her.

Resolved – (1) That the overall Schools Block outturn of an overspend of £149k be noted.

(2) That the school balances, set out in Appendix A to the report and the surplus balances detailed in Appendix B to the report, be noted.

(3) That a report on the outcome of the South-West Region meeting on 1 October 2009 on Recoupment Budgets be submitted to the next convenient meeting of the Forum.

The purpose of the report is to provide Schools Forum with the final allocation of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for 2009/10.  This report has been delayed as notification of the final allocation is currently awaited from the Department for Children, Schools and Families. 

            Nicki Archer (Deputy Group Finance Manager-Schools) provided a report on the final allocation of the Dedicated Schools grant  (DSG) for 2009/10 and commented on where potential budget pressures could arise.  

Karen Murray (Group Finance Manager Children Services) commended Nicki Archer for her work on the initial figures, as it had resulted in the provisional budget being very close to the final amount.

            Resolved – The Forum was unable to agree the report’s recommendations or to provide new ones because of the outstanding issues to be resolved regarding Equal Pay (see Minute 13).    

            The Forum considered a report by the Group Director Children, as presented by Nicki Archer (Deputy Group Finance Manager-Schools), regarding the budget monitoring information to the end of May 2009 in respect of the Dedicated Schools Grant for 2009/10.

Resolved – (1) That the 2009/10 financial projections in respect of the Dedicated Schools Grant for the current financial year be noted.

(2) That the Group Director, Children continue rigorous and robust monitoring of the Dedicated Schools Grant and to bring budget monitoring reports to future meetings of the Schools Forum.

            Nicki Archer (Deputy Group Finance Manager-Schools) presented a report by Karen Murray, (Group Finance Manager Children Services) to inform members of the current Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) consultation on Schools Forum Regulations.  

            Resolved – That the consultation on Schools Forum Regulations be noted and any comments on the consultation should be submitted through the Clerk to the Forum.

            Karen Murray (Group Finance Manager Children Services) presented a report on the progress of the review of the distribution formula for the Dedicated Schools grant (DSG) 2011/12.

            Karen Murray advised that the data gathering stage of the process was drawing to a close and it was therefore necessary to identify members of a sub-group to work with officers in responding to the consultation. It was agreed that meeting dates would be planned from September 2009 and it would be the responsibility of the various groups to provide a representative.

Resolved – That a sub-group be formed to work with officers in responding to the consultation and comprising:

·        1 secondary headteacher

·        1 primary headteacher

·        1 special school headteacher

·        at least 1 governor

·        1 Diocesan representative

·        1 Early Years representative

·        1 Trade Union representative if possible.

            Paddy Bradley (Director Schools and Learning) presented a report by the Group Director Children concerning the evaluation of the Youth Education Project at the end of the first year of a planned three-year project.

Paddy Bradley commented on the findings from the evaluation and informed members that Kim Tupper from Nova Hreod School had now been seconded to lead the project.

            Resolved – That the report, and the current situation of the Youth Education Project be noted.

            Kerry Davison (School Meals Project Manager) presented a report by the Group Director Children with options for the allocation of capital funding for school kitchens and dining rooms.

Kerry Davison advised that the grant available to Swindon was only 44% of the original bid. Schools would therefore need to submit revised plans for their projects and these would require agreement by the Schools Forum.

Rachael Mattey (Secondary Head) stated that Isambard School had expressed an interest but it was not included with the schools listed in Appendix 4. There was concern that other schools may have been omitted. It was also acknowledged that the safety aspect of any bid was very important and that all bids should be evaluated for safety and value for money.

Chris Davis (Primary Head), on behalf of the schools, thanked Kerri Davison for compiling the bid and obtaining the extra funding for the school kitchens.

            Resolved – (1) That the Forum notes the report and recommends the Local Authority to allocate the available funding in accordance with Option 2, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, with the aim of increasing school meals take-up.

(2) That the School Meals Project Manager ensures that all schools that expressed an interest are included within the scheme and that a report be submitted to the next meeting with revised proposals from the schools to match the reduced funding available.

The next meeting of Schools Forum is scheduled for Tuesday 29^th September 2009 at 4 pm.

            The Forum noted that the next scheduled meeting would be held on Tuesday, 29 September 2009 at 4.00 p.m.

 Kirsty Cole (Deputy Director of Finance) presented a report to generate discussion on the method of funding the Equal Pay costs that are being paid to schools staff.

There was specific guidance from the Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) that the costs for staff employed in schools should be charged to the Dedicated Schools grant (DSG), but within this there was scope to determine precisely how they would be treated and the five main options were detailed in paragraph 2.6 of the report. There were pros and cons with all the options but the officers’ recommendation was set out in paragraph 2.7, with the reasoning behind the recommendation in the following paragraphs. Recent case law had dramatically altered the Council’s position on equal pay liability and Stephen Taylor (Director of Law and Corporate Governance) explained the current situation. It was anticipated that there would be an appeal against the ruling but the Council had to abide by current case law. Kirsty Cole provided an estimate of the additional cost involved should the uncontested compensation payments resume but it was not possible to give any estimate for the litigated cases as they were still being reviewed.

Although information had been provided on the level of compensation that had been paid to staff within each school, the Forum was frustrated at the lack of definitive figures for potential future liabilities that had been requested in February 2009, and extremely anxious at the impact on school budgets. The whole of the educational community was concerned and would be affected by the additional financial burden. The proposals would mean that school budgets would quickly be in deficit, without taking any other issues into account, and the deficit would increase year on year. It was commented that different decisions might have been made earlier in the process towards single status if the Forum had been properly made aware of the full implications of equal pay and the additional budget pressures it would bring.

Members agreed that without greater clarity on the figures involved, it was not possible to make a decision on the funding of the equal pay claims. This also had a knock-on effect in that it was then not possible to make a decision regarding the allocation of the final Dedicated Schools Grant for 2009/10, as requested in the report at item 7 on the agenda (minute   ). The Forum considered that all Councillors should be apprised of the serious situation facing the schools and agreed that they should be asked to attend the next meeting.

Kirsty Cole advised that full details may still not be known in September and warned that the impact on budgets would only be exacerbated if decisions were not made until later in the year.  

Resolved – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the Schools Forum is unable to endorse the recommendations set out in the report as the precise impact on school budgets is not yet known and more time is needed for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

            The Chair, Peter Wells, informed members that this was his last meeting as a headteacher representative and thanked colleagues for their hard work and commitment to the Forum. On behalf of the Forum, Paddy Bradley thanked Peter Wells and wished him well in his retirement.