Agenda and minutes

Tracy Rees (sent substitute)

Tracey Ydlibi

None.

Last meeting held on 5 November 2015 (for confirmation)

The minutes of the meeting on 5 November 2015 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Report of the Directors of Education and the Corporate Director for Children and Adults

Lucy Juby, Project Manager, School Organisation, presented the report outlining the proposed requirements of the pupil growth contingency for 2016/17 and seeking the Forum’s approval to allocate funds from the Dedicated Schools Grant to fund this proposal. Lucy highlighted the following:

(a)  as part of the budget setting process for 2016/17, the School Funding team must inform the Education Funding Agency (EFA) by mid-January 2016 on the level of funding allocated for pupil growth for academies for the period April 2016 to August 2016, from the pupil growth contingency fund;

(b)  the level of funding for pupil growth requested for 2016/17 is a reduction on the last two years;

(c)  there are still a few pressure areas in the city in terms of primary school place availability but citywide there has been great improvement made.

RESOLVED to

(1)  approve the allocation of £0.018m to support pupil growth in 2016/17;

(2)  note:

(a)  the requirement to allocate funding to academies for the period April 2016 to August 2016 as guided by the EFA;

(b)  the amount allocated is £0.191m;

(c)  the funding will be included on the submission of the 2016/17 Authority Pro-Forma Tool sent in to the EFA which includes all school budget shares for 2016/17 and the amounts to be given out to academies for pupil growth April to August 2016;

(d)  the total amount of academies individual school budget shares will be netted off against the pupil growth given out for this period and the Authority’s Dedicated Schools Grant for 2016/17 will be adjusted accordingly.

Report of the Corporate Director for Children and Adults and the Chief Finance Officer

Ceri Walters, Finance Business Partner, Children and Adults, presented the report presenting the Council’s proposed Central Expenditure budget for 2016/17 which is prepared in accordance with the financial regulations issues by the Department of Education (DfE) and forms part of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) budget. Ceri highlighted the following:

(a)  there is a statutory deadline set by the DfE for local authorities to set indicative budgets to be issued to schools;

(b)  the budget is split into three blocks: Schools, Early Years and High Needs;

(c)  there is no specific guidance on the3 amount of funding that goes into schools’ individual budgets, though there has tended to be an increase from year to year;

(d)  appendix A of the report provides a detailed analysis of central expenditure since 2013/14, including descriptions of individual services and their educational outcomes;

(e)  appendix B of the report provides supplementary information on the early years central expenditure block;

(f)  appendix C provides benchmarking information on the central expenditure against other local authorities which are similar to Nottingham City;

(g)  there is a projected overspend on Termination of Employment costs, which may be due to restructures and academisations. The additional costs will be offset against underspends elsewhere or taken from the Statutory Schools Reserve (SSR) at the end of the year. There is also a projected overspend on Family Support costs;

(h)  Children in Care and Family Support Workers are safeguarded from budget cuts as they are both seeing an increase in number;

(i)  there is a projected overall underspend within the Early Years block for 2015/16, resulting in a planned reduction of this sum for 2016/17;

(j)  there have been underspends in various areas of the High Needs block. However, the budget in these areas has been kept the same as alternative provision in the city is currently under review leading to a number of unknowns;

(k)  the costs of High Needs are increasing nationally, leading to an increase in the projected budget for this is 2016/17;

(l)  a meeting of the Schools’ Forum Sub-Group will be convened to discuss the services and benchmarking information in more detail;

(m)a budget outturn report will be brought to the Forum meeting in February.

RESOLVED to

(1)  approve the Schools Block central expenditure for 2016/17 totalling £7.106m as set out in Appendix A of the report;

(2)  approve the Early Years Block central expenditure for 2016/17 totalling £1.092m as set out in Appendix A of the report;

(3)  note the High Needs Block central expenditure for 2016/17 totalling £4.972m as set out in Appendix A of the report;

(4)  note that the central expenditure has not breached in 2016/17;

(5)  note that the approvals gained from this report will be incorporated into the final budget report in February 2016;

(6)  suggest new members for the Schools’ Forum Sub-Group to either the Chair or the clerk;

Report of the Corporate Director for Children and Adults

Lucy Juby, Project Manager, School Organisation, presented the report seeking Schools Forum’s approval to allocate funding to the cost of temporary accommodation at Bulwell St Mary’s CE Primary School, which was installed to accommodate growing pupil numbers in the area. Lucy highlighted the following:

The following responses were given in answer to questions from the Forum:

(a)  the school has decided itself to reduce its Pupil Admission Number (PAN) as it has had difficulty managing the extra children. There is now additional capacity in the area at Heathfield and Rufford Primary schools so the additional capacity at Bulwell St Mary’s is not needed;

(b)  it is rare for a school to reduce its PAN, but the additional places at Heathfield and Rufford provide will better value for money for the city;

(c)  a review of secondary school provision in the city will take place soon, with an analysis of all current sites.

RESOLVED to

(1)  approve the allocation of £0.304m from the Statutory School Reserve (SSR) to fund the cost of temporary accommodation at Bulwell St Mary’s CE Primary for the timeframe September 2015 to July 2020.

Verbal update by Lucy Juby, Project Manager, School Organisation

Lucy Juby, Project Manager, School Organisation, gave a verbal update, highlighting the following:

(a)  the remaining balance currently stands at £24,924;

(b)   the funding for Blue Bell Hill primary school relating to the period April to August 2014, which should have been paid from the 14/15 fund, has been claimed back from the EFA;

(c)  The estimated figure for Fernwood Nursery has reduced from an original estimate of £50,185 to an estimate of £30,000.

The work programme for the next meeting of the Forum was noted.

Mark Precious left the meeting and Sian Hampton took over as Chair.

Report of the Directors of Education

Pat Fielding, Director of Education, presented the report giving an update on progress made regarding the recommendations and consultations about the review on Alternative Provision (AP) by Peter Gray. It also consults the Forum on proposed implementation models and options that would be applicable to all mainstream maintained schools, academies and free schools. Pat highlighted the following:

(a)  a review of AP is needed as the number of permanent exclusions continues to increase, making the current system unaffordable at a cumulative overspend of £14m over the next 5 years;

(b)  the proposal is to devolve funding for AP out to schools. It is expected that schools will pool funding and work collaboratively;

(c)  a Service Level Agreement will be developed, which will include the requirement for schools to meet the pupil needs within the funding allocated to them, including the costs of AP for pupils they permanently exclude;

(d)  the devolved funding will need to be phased in as Denewood and Unity Learning Centres will still need to be funded for provision for the current permanently excluded pupils;

(e)  further consultation with Head Teachers will take place on 4^th February;

The following answers were given in response to questions from the Forum:

(f)  the key time will be the transition period and this must be managed effectively;

(g)  there was initially some resistance from some academy trusts, but this has lessened as they have realised that the current system is unsustainable;

(h)  discussions will need to happen as to whether Denewood and Unity Pupil Referral Units will still be required, or whether schools will manage their AP internally or in hubs;

(i)  there are already many AP providers in the city, however not all of these currently offer level 2 qualifications;

Schools’ Forum members had some concerns around timelines but were assured that the process is moving as quickly as possible. 1^st April will be the date that transition starts to the new system so it is recognised that not all schools will be fully ready from that date.

RESOLVED to

(1)  note that the February budget report will need to assume a draw-down of up to £2m from the DG+SG reserve to support the 2016/17 budget;

(2)  agree to delegate to the Schools Forum sub-group consultation over the Denewood and Unity planned places and top-up funding level for 2016/17.

Report of the Directors of Education and the Corporate Director for Children and Adults

Pat Fielding, Director of Education, presented the report consulting Schools’ Forum on the intention to discontinue ‘place’ funding from the High Needs Block for pupils attending out-of-city establishments and accessing places in Beckhampton Centre Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) in the Local Authority. Pat highlighted the following:

(a)  currently all places at Beckhampton PRU are funded at £10,000 each, whether taken by pupils at city establishments or out-of-city establishments. This places a strain on the city’s High Needs block. Re-charging for out-of-city places may help to make the provision more cost-effective as it would bring in around £50,000 per year of additional funding;

(b)  the local authority’s intention is to cease funding any new places from 1 April 2016.

RESOLVED to

(1)  support the Local Authority’s intention to discontinue ‘place’ funding from the High Needs Block for new pupils from out-of-city establishments accessing places in Beckhampton Centre Pupil Referral Unit from April 1^st 2016;

(2)  note the intention of the Local Authority to expect Beckhampton Pupil Referral Unit to re-charge, as appropriate, out-of-city schools, academies and other authorities for the place cost in Beckhampton Pupil Referral Unit from April 1st 2016.