Agenda and minutes

Paul Halcro

Gary Holmes

Richard Matthews

Councillor Sam Webster

None.

Minutes of the last meeting held on 21 January 2016 (for confirmation)

The minutes of the meeting on 21 January 2016 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The work programme for the next meeting of the Forum was noted, with the addition of a report on the Funding Formula.

Report of the Corporate Director for Children and Adults

Ceri Walters, Finance Business Partner, Children and Adults, introduced the report updating the Forum on the findings of the consultation on the revised Fair Funding Scheme and seeking approval for the recommended changes to the scheme. Ceri highlighted the following:

(a)  the consultation document was circulated to all head teachers of maintained primary and secondary schools and their chair of governors on 8^th January 2016 and the consultation period was open for a two week period;

(b)  the change of order threshold from £10,000 to £5,000 is in line with Department for Education guidance and in accordance with financial regulations;

(c)  information on the new fair funding formula has still not been published. No core cities or comparators to Nottingham are involved with drafting this so it may not be in Nottingham’s favour.

RESOLVED to approve the changes made to the Fair Funding Scheme

Report of the Directors of Education

Lucy Juby, Project Manager, School Organisation, introduced the report seeking approval to fund the closing deficit balance for Hadden Park High School from the Statutory Schools Reserve. Lucy highlighted the following:

(a)  when Hadden Park High School closed, it had a deficit balance of £0.013m due to falling pupil numbers at the school;

(b)  following the school’s closure, a late water bill was received that had not been included in the school’s projections;

(c)  when a school with a deficit is converted to an academy, the deficit remains with the local authority, to be funded from its core budget. However there is no available funding from the core budget, so it is proposed to fund this from the Statutory School Reserve (SSR);

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

(d)  it is enshrined in law that the sponsor academy trust should not pay any outstanding bills or deficits from the original school;

(e)  when a school is due to convert to an academy, the finance team write to them 3 months beforehand for monthly financial outturns. If a deficit is observed, then a plan is put in place to minimise this. The conversion to academy status can be delayed, and the final decision is made at Director level in the Council;

(f)  if Hadden Park had not become an academy, its deficit from low pupil numbers had been predicted to increase further. Since the school has become an academy it is now full in year 7;

(g)  the criteria and process for academisation is very robust and stringent to avoid these situations arising in future.

RESOLVED to approve the allocation of £0.031m from the Statutory School Reserve (SSR) to fund the closing deficit balance of -£0.031m for Hadden Park High School, which converted to an academy, sponsored by Bluecoat Academy, on 1^st April 2014 (11 in favour, 2 against)

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

Ceri Walters, Finance Business Partner, Children and Adults, introduced the report presenting the proposed Schools Budget for 2016/17. Ceri highlighted the following:

(a)  funding streams for educational funding are the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), Education Services Grant, Pupil Premium, Universal Free School Meals and the Devolved Formula Capital Grant. The majority of this funding goes direct to schools at £192.302m out of a total of £272.690m (provisional figures);

(b)  other main areas for funding identified in the report are de-delegated funding, central expenditure, early years and high needs. Approvals for these have all been gained from Schools Forum at earlier meetings;

(c)  the amount of DSG has increased for 2016/17, mainly due to increased pupil numbers and adjustments to high needs;

(d)  the schools’ funding formula is used to allocate schools’ budgets with specific rates. This has been changed in the following ways:

·  the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) scores have been updated as they had not been amended since 2010;

·  Free School Meals data was updated according to the 2015 census and showed a reduction in numbers;

·  there was an uplift of all rates of 2.5%;

·  96.04% of the schools block is allocated to schools, which is an increase from 95.9% in 2015/16;

(e)  the majority of schools will see an increase in funding for 2016/17, with those that will have a decrease being due to reductions in pupil numbers;

(f)  funding for early years is based initially on actual pupil numbers from the 2015 census, and there has been no increase in the per pupil rates from the DfE. A new national formula will be implemented for 2017/18 which will increase the national average rate by 30p per hour and implement a new distribution method;

(g)  funding for high needs has increased by £0.410m. Some of this will be needed to support a planned increase in Special Educational Needs places from September 2017.

RESOLVED to

(1)  note the value of the 2016/17 DSG schools budget is £243.280m;

(2)  note how the funding has been allocated;

(3)  note that any unallocated DSG will be transferred to the Statutory Schools Reserve (SSR);

(4)  note the allocation of Pupil Premium, Summer Schools Funding and Year 7 Catch Up Premium will be confirmed in Summer 2015 and will be allocated to schools in accordance with the grant conditions.