Agenda and minutes

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 13 July 2010

Resolved – (1) That the minutes of the meeting held on 13 July 2010 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

(2) With regard to Minute 5, Ian Bickerton (Director Access and Provision) advised that it would be necessary to appoint a 14 -19 partnership representative to the Forum, as it was required in the Regulations. However as he believed that there had been discussions with a possible nominee, it was agreed that further information would be provided at the next meeting. Members also agreed to review the period of membership just before the one-year term expired as it was felt that currently, there were too many uncertainties to make an informed decision.

            The minutes of the Schools Forum Sub Group meetings on 23 September and 18 November 2010 were submitted for information.

To follow shortly

            Sarah Higgins (Deputy Group Finance Manager - Schools) provided a report to inform members of the key points arising from the consultation on the School Finance Regulations (England) 2011. She commented on the main issues arising from the consultation, full details of which were provided for the Sub Group on 23 September 2010, and confirmed that it was not intended to submit a formal response.

            Resolved – That the report and the fact that the Local Authority does not propose to submit a formal response to the consultation, be noted.

            Steve Haley (Group Finance Manager) presented a report with details of the final Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) settlement for the 2010/11 financial year.

            Resolved – (1) That Swindon’s final Dedicated Schools Grant settlement covering the 2010/11 financial year is £116.3m be noted.

(2) That the Schools Forum agrees and confirms the recommendation of the Sub Group from 18 November 2010 that the additional funding received of £121,400 should be used by the Local Authority to offset pressures on the retained budget.

            Steve Haley (Group Finance Manager) provided a report on the latest 2010/11 forecast outturn position on the Local Authority’s centrally retained budget. He referred to the reduction over the last month in the amount of the projected overspend and to the continuing pressures on the budget, which were detailed within the report. With the Forum’s decision to offset the additional Dedicated Schools Grant funding received for 2010/11 (Agenda item 5), the projected overspend would be further reduced.

            Resolved – That the Forum notes the currently projected 2010/11 year end overspend of £259k on the Local Authority’s centrally retained budget and that this has now reduced to £138k following the decision in Minute 10 to offset the additional Dedicated Schools Grant received for that year.

            The Forum considered a report by Steve Haley (Group Finance Manager) on the indicated Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) and the centrally retained budget position for 2011/12. He stressed that the figures were only estimates based on 2010/11 details and taking into account known or assumed factors. The new Coalition Government had introduced a number of changes to schools funding and until the Department for Education issued details of the funding rates, there was a great deal of uncertainty over how much would be available to Swindon schools in 2011/12.

He referred to paragraph 2.15 of the report regarding a potential loss to the retained budget because of recoupment payments made when a school converted to Academy status. As the Local Authority was unsure how many schools would convert during 2011/12 and the Department for Education had announced that changes were to be made to the recoupment calculations, it was impossible to accurately quantify the loss of retained funding. The Local Authority was therefore recommending that provision should be made within the 2011/12 retained budget, although it was not possible to determine an exact figure, provision could be agreed in principle until more detail was known.

The Forum was asked to consider how it would wish the baseline funding distributed to schools, even though accurate figures were not known. Mr Haley advised that for 2011/12 schools could receive up to four streams of revenue funding as opposed to the many separate strands as in previous years and detailed in Annex A to the report. It was also probable that a simplified national funding formula would be introduced from 2012/13, which would mean another change to the methodology. General opinion was to replicate as close as possible the current year’s formula for 2011/12 and save all the changes to 2012/13, when there would be more time to consider the implications.

Mr Haley stated that he had hoped to have definite information on the level of funding for 2011/12 by now. The earliest date details could be known was 13 December and that was too for the Sub Group to meet and examine the figures before Christmas.

            Resolved – The Schools Forum:

(1) Notes that the Local Authority is currently unable to provide anything other than a broad indication of the value of Swindon’s Dedicated Schools Grant in 2011/12 or therefore a firm estimate of the value available for distribution to individual schools, pending a Department for Education announcement sometime in December.

(2) Notes the indicative demands on the centrally retained budget.

(3) Agrees in principle to provision being made within the 2011/12 retained budget for possible loss of funding due to Academy recoupment payments, with the amount to be set-aside determined at the next meeting on 18 January 2011.

(4) Agrees that the Individual School Budget shares for 2011/12 be distributed by replicating existing methodologies, to ensure funding for the named grants in Annex A to the report are allocated in proportion to 2010/11 levels.

(5) Agrees that the notional value of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

            Ian Bickerton (Director Access and Provision) introduced a report that reflected the recommendations of the Sub Group for the reshaping of a number of services funded by the retained Dedicated Schools Grant. He referred to the notes of the Sub Group meetings of 23 September and 18 November 2010 included within the agenda (Item 3), as these were also relevant to this report. There had been ongoing discussions with the head teacher associations on the subject and with the Association of Swindon Governors. David Easter (Primary Governor) commented that he was not aware of any previous consultation on this issue and noted that it was not the first time that governors had been omitted from important issues affecting schools. Mr Bickerton agreed to investigate and if necessary, have further talks with the governors’ association.

Steve Haley (Group finance Manager) distributed information on the implications for 2011/12 school funding allocations based on the various delegation options that were proposed.

Nick Capstick (Primary Headteacher), as Chair of the Sub Group, spoke to the report and commented on the recommendations that were proposed by the Sub-Group that were included in Annex B to the report. He particularly referred to Education Support Service, Primary and Secondary School Support – Central Coordination and School Meals Consultancy Service, as the proposal was to set them up as new Traded Services. Mr Bickerton explained that a transitional period from April to August 2011 would be needed to give the services time to set themselves up and therefore an element of the funding would be retained to cover this period. Discussions had taken place with head teachers on the proposed traded services but the secondary heads commented that at that time, the figures were unknown so they had been unable to advise or make any decisions. Whilst not a reflection of its quality, it was felt that secondaries would not use the School Meals Consultancy Service and this was also endorsed by Dr Capstick as the view from SAPH. Members therefore considered that there was a strong case for the full amount of funding for this service to be delegated to schools for 2011/12.

            Resolved – The Schools Forum recommends the Local authority to consider the following: -

(1) It agrees the recommendations of the Schools Forum Sub Group on 18 November 2010 as set out in the notes of that meeting and included in the Agenda at Item 3, and as set out in Annex B to the report, for reshaping or ceasing services currently funded by the retained Dedicated Schools Grant and increasing the level of delegation to schools from April 2011 and beyond, with additional clarification or exceptions as follows

·        Early Years Portage Service - £91k of the budget to be retained centrally but the service to be reshaped with a transitional period from April to August 2011. £100k to be delegated only to those schools with a 0 to 5 years provision. 

·        SENRAP – delegate £300k from the overall budget to schools with effect  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.