Agenda and minutes

Gary Holmes, Chris Manze, Janet Molyneux, Tracey Ydlibi

To welcome David Holdsworth as new Primary Academy Representative

RESOLVED to note the appointment of David Holdsworth as Primary Academy representative.

None.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 8 December 2016

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 8 December 2016 as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The work programme was noted

Briefing by Jennifer Hardy, Education Improvement Board Project Manager

Jennifer Hardy presented a progress update to the Forum on the ongoing work of the Education Improvement Board (EIB), which was part funded by them in April 2015. Jennifer highlighted the following:

(a)  key achievements of the Board include The Behaviour Charter, Fair Workload Charter, recruitment of a dedicated Teacher Recruitment and Retention Officer, and question-level analysis of key stage 2 SATs papers and GCSE papers;

(b)  the Board now has 21 members, with progress Boards for English, maths and science;

(c)  there is the possibility of developing the Board into a charity, which would enable access to further funding;

The following answers were given in response to questions asked by the Board:

(d)  in the short term, the Board’s strategies, such as Reading Recovery and Transition Support, have funding to run for the rest of this year and for next year;

(e)  the work of the EIB should directly impact on schools. This will work different in different strands, for example science strands will work directly with schools. Question level analysis will be fed back on a school level as well as city-wide;

(f)  recruitment of a Lead for English and maths was unsuccessful so a successful Academy in Stoke on Trent has been approached to come and lead some improvement work.

RESOLVED to thank Jennifer for the update and request a further update in a year’s time

Ceri Walters introduced the report seeking approval to transfer the former Retained Education Services Grant (ESG) to the Local Authority. Ceri highlighted the following:

(a)  ESG is being phased out but there will be transitional funding available until August. Academies receive this funding direct;

(b)  ESG Retained Funding funds statutory duties for all city pupils, whereas ESG General Duties only relates to pupils in maintained schools;

(c)  the Local Authority intends to do some benchmarking work against other authorities during the 2017/18 year to inform future decisions;

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

(d)  there is no reason foreseen as to why any additional funding would be required this year, however the final budget has not yet been approved;

(e)  in the 2018/19 school year ESG will be removed and funding will be paid direct to schools. Funding for these services will be treated as a de-delegated budget.

RESOLVED to

(1)  approve funding to support the statutory retained duties of the Local Authority for all pupils as set out below:

(2)  note that no approvals are required for the transitional funding of general duties of £0.478m as set out below. This funding is for the statutory requirements of the Local Authority in relation to maintained schools only:

Ceri Walters presented the report on the Schools Budget 2017/18. Ceri highlighted the following:

(a)  the overall budget is divided into 3 blocks – Schools, Early Years, and High Needs. The overall budget comes to £256,501m, of which £255,459m is funded by the Dedicated Schools Grant;

(b)  the report does not include any forecast for 2018/19, and does not include detailed information on the Central Expenditure, De-Delegated budgets or the Early Years budget as these have already been presented to the Forum in separate reports;

(c)  the Schools Budget is based on a formula. There have been some changes to the formula including changes in the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI), removal of post-16 and shifts in the funding of factors like deprivation;

(d)  some schools have gained funding and others have lost out, usually due to changes in pupil numbers or business rates. The amount allocated per pupil has reduced by £3.33 per pupil, however Nottingham City is still a high funded authority and is still the highest in the East Midlands;

(e)  the Early Years budget has already been approved. The Local Authority is considering raising the base rate by £0.10 to £4.25. This is because Early Years settings are facing cost pressures and will benefit from financial stability. This will be funded by reducing g the deprivation rate from £1.40 to £1.00.

The presentation which was shown to the Forum is attached as an appendix.

RESOLVED to

(1)  note the following information on the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG):

a.  the overall indicative 2017/18 cost of the Schools, Early Years and High Needs blocks is £256.501m;

b.  DSG funding of £255.454m supports this cost;

c.  there is currently no unallocated funding (headroom);

d.  the impact to schools’ budgets of the indicative allocation as set out below:

(2)  to note the allocation of Pupil Premium funding will be allocated to schools in accordance with the grant conditions.

Ceri Walters introduced the report presenting the proposed Central Expenditure budget for 2017/18 for those items not approved in the meeting on 8 December 2016.

Ceri explained that if this budget were not approved, it would go into a reserve which can only be used for certain purposes. Future funding from 2018/19 will be based on these historical commitments so it would mean that the funding would be cut from the budget in future years.

Forum members expressed disapproval with this as it limits the ability to scrutinise this spending and is rubber stamping historical commitments.

Helen Blackman introduced presentations three of the four areas of the Central Expenditure Budget which were not approved in December 2016 to the Forum, with support from Aileen Wilson, Shelley Nicholls, Tajinder Madahar, Sophie Russell, Clive Chambers. These were the Combined Services for Family Support, Integrated Placements and Safeguarding Training.

Sarah Fielding then introduced her report on the Combined Service for Serving Vulnerable Children, explaining that this funding is to support the Virtual Headteacher who works with all Children in Care and unaccompanied asylum seeker children.

The following observations were made during the discussion which followed:

(a)  the presentations gave an overview of the services, and did not focus on the impact to individual schools, however impact can be demonstrated through evidence;

(b)  there is frustration from schools when the thresholds for accessing services increases, though this is understandable due to budget cuts. The need for the services is understood but as they do not always directly impact schools the funding can be resented when schools’ budgets are also being cut;

(c)  the standard duration of an intervention through the Priority Families programme is 10 months, or longer with agreement through schools;

RESOLVED to

(1)  approve the central expenditure associated with Combined Service – Family Support;

(2)  approve the central expenditure associated with Combined Service – Integrated Placements;

(3)  approve the central expenditure associated with Combined Service – Safeguarding Training;

(4)  approve the central expenditure associated with Combined Service – Serving Vulnerable Children;

(5)  note that the value of any items unapproved will be headroom and transferred to the Statutory School Reserve (SSR) and expenditure will only align to specific services as set out by the Education Funding Agency (EFA).

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

This report was incorporated into item 36 – Central Expenditure Budget

To consider excluding the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining item in accordance with section 104a(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the basis that, having regard to all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining item in accordance with Section 110A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the basis that, having regard to all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED to note the information contained in the exempt appendix.