Agenda item

Report of the Leader/ Portfolio Holder for Strategic Regeneration and Schools

The Board considered the Leader/Portfolio Holder for Strategic Regeneration and Schools’ report on Schools’ budgets for 2015/16.

The Schools’ budget has been agreed in line with the parameters agreed at Schools Forum, and with the financial regulations issued by the Department of Education.

RESOLVED to:

1)  note the value of the 2015/16 Schools DSG (Dedicated Schools Grant) budget (£233.001m) and note that this excludes 2 year old funding, as per Table 5;

2)  approve the in-year DSG budget transfers and payments to schools, Private Voluntary Charitable and Independent settings and Academies totalling £220.845m as per Table 5;

3)  approve the in-year DSG budget transfers and payments for 2 year old places estimated at c.£6m;

4)  approve external DSG spend associated with centrally retained expenditure. This allocation is £13.801m, as per Table 5;

5)  note any unallocated DSG will be transferred to the Statutory Schools Reserve (SSR) as noted in section 4.8;

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

7)  approve the allocation of Pupil Premium to Schools and Early Years settings in accordance with the grant conditions;

8)  approve spend associated with the use of the SSR to support the cost of split sites kitchens in 2014/15 as approved at Schools Forum;

9)  approve the transfer of any underspend associated with the Schools Building Maintenance de-delegated budget to the reserve as set out in section 4.10;

10)  delegate the authority to the Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services and the Corporate Director of Children’s and Families to approve any final budget adjustments.

Reasons for decision

To ensure an understanding of how and on what level different Department for Education grants are allocated, and how they are then distributed to educational settings.

Other options considered

No other options were considered, as the recommendations align to the financial regulations issued by the Department for Education.