Agenda item

Report of the Portfolio Holder for Schools

This decision is not subject to call-in as Councillor Brian Parbutt, Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, has agreed that the decision is reasonable in all the circumstances and should be treated as a matter of urgency as the Department for Education (DfE) set clear timelines for the schools budget to be set, approvals gained by Schools Forum, budgets issued to schools and constitutional approval gained, They require constitutional approval to be gained at the latest by the end of March, and call-in would prevent this.

The Board considered the Portfolio Holder for Schools’ report proposing the Council’s Schools Budget for 2016/17.

RESOLVED  

(1)  in relation to the Dedicated Schools Grant to:

(a)  note the value of the 2016/17 Schools is £243.280 million;

(b)  approve the in-year budget transfers and payments to schools, Private and Voluntary Charitable and Independent settings and Academies totalling £230.354 million, as per Table 3 in the report;

(c)  approve the external spend associated with centrally retained expenditure. This allocation is £13.876 million, as per Table 3 in the report;

(d)  note that any unallocated DSG will be transferred to the Statutory Schools Reserve (SSR) as noted in section 4.5 of the report;

(e)  note the procurement of external placements will be in accordance with the financial regulations, gaining approval through the appropriate processes;

(2)  to approve the allocation of Pupil Premium and early Years Pupil Premium to setting in accordance with the grant conditions;

(3)  to approve spend of up to £2.2 million to support the increased levels of permanently excluded pupils in 2016/17 as set out in section 4.9 of the report. This is funded from the SSR and aligns to the report presented to Executive Board on 19 January 2016;

(4)  to delegate authority to the Portfolio Holder for Schools, and the Corporate Director for Children and Adults, to approve any final budget adjustments.

Reasons for decision

To establish schools budgets for 2016/17 and to ensure that appropriate constitutional approvals are gained in advance of the deadline of the end of March 2016.

Other options considered

No other options were considered as the proposals comply with financial regulations issued by the DfE.