Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of 22 October 2015.

It was noted that the Terms of Reference for the SEN Panel and the admissions criteria for Rise@GHC were under review and would be re-issued in due course. 

A consultation had taken place before Christmas in respect of two changes to the Scheme for Financing Schools in respect of school permission to borrow money and the register of business interests.  It was noted that all 18 schools that responded had approved the changes. 

The forum noted that the expected long term funding policy for new and expanding schools had been deferred due to uncertainty around the precise timing of when the schools would be required and the outcomes of the National Funding Formula for Schools that the DfE intend to introduce from April 2017. As a consequence, the Council is proposing a funding solution for one year only.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 22 October 2015 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

To ask for comment on the responses from the Council to the self-assessment returns.

The Forum COMMENTED on the responses from the Council to the self-assessment toolkit returns with the focus on the areas where less than 50% of respondents agreed that best practice was being met:

• The dedicated website link for the Schools Forum was considered to be difficult to find from the BFC public website homepage and this would be addressed through the current re-design of the BF public website which is in progress.

• It was not clear to observers of the Forum who the attendees were or what body they represented.  In response to this, it was noted that name plates had now been introduced but would be amended to include the body being represented.

• An induction pack or training programme was not consistently available to new members.  In response to this, it was noted that a new induction pack covering key responsibilities and duties was being developed for new members and would be completed before the next meeting of the forum.

• With respect to whether members actively canvassed views and objectively represented their peer group at the Forum, the responses indicated that Head teachers felt this was being met.  However, governors responded this was either not being met or didn’t know if it was being met. The Forum agreed this was an area of improvement and discussed setting up an e-mail group to include all school governors and a governors forum.

To ask for comments on the 2016/17 budget proposals of the Executive for the Children, Young People and Learning Department

As part of the council’s consultation process, the Forum was presented with a report on the local authority budget proposals for 2016/17 which was based on the expected outcomes from the Local Government Financial Settlement.  David Watkins, Chief Officer, Children,Young People and Learning (CYPL) advised members that the report set out the overall financial arrangements and proposals for next year and that comments were sought in particular on the proposed changes for CYPL in respect of the revenue budget and capital programme. The report set out the difficult financial situation facing the council over the medium term with a balanced budget only being possible by making savings of £3.7m with Members yet to decide how the remaining £6m budget gap would be financed either from using reserves, further expenditure reductions, an increase in Council Tax or a mixture of the three options.

Cllr Barnard then provided the Forum with an update on the Council’s budget position following the publication of the provisional Local Government Financial Settlement, which was announced after the commencement of the council’s consultation process. This confirmed that there would be a much larger reduction in grant allocations to local authorities than previously stated. Furthermore, the settlement included assumptions about how the local authority would increase income from its current level through using the new 2% Adult Social Care Council Tax levy and that additional Council Tax would be due from 950 new house builds in the Borough over the next year when recent experience has shown that a more realistic figure is 350.

In essence, the Council had to find further savings of £2.4m for the year 2016/17 and this would impact on aspects of both revenue and capital budgets managed by CYPL. Officers were currently working through proposals and savings could lead to a reduction in front-facing work together with a re-phasing of a number of planned projects on the capital programme.

With respect to any impact on front line services within CYPL as a result of necessary savings, Cllr Barnard advised that specialist services that provided help to those with additional support needs and those who were vulnerable or at risk would be protected.  More universal services would be reviewed to identify if alternative delivery mechanisms could be implemented via involvement from voluntary organisations or the Town Council.  Whilst it was accepted that savings had to be made there was a commitment to provide services to the young people in the Borough that most needed it and that the mental health and wellbeing work already underway would remain a priority.  Cllr Barnard advised members that the work to effect the changes that were needed had begun in relation to consultations and employees at risk and that those affected would be contacted within the next week.  Cllr Barnard clarified that whilst this meant some posts would be deleted this included existing vacancies that had not been filled.  However, no action would be taken until the final budget proposal was made to the Executive on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

To present an update on school funding and to seek comments on proposals from the Council for the 2016-17 Schools Block element of the Schools Budget.

The Forum was presented with a report updating on school funding and to seek comments on proposals from the Council for the 2016-17 Schools Block element of the Schools Budget.  Recommendations agreed from this report would form the basis of proposals to be presented to the Executive Member for Children, Young People and Learning.  Thereafter, there was a tight timetable to record the views of the Forum on the report proposals with 21 January 2016 being the deadline for the submission of the actual Funding Formula for Schools to the Department for Education (DfE).

Paul Clark, Head of Departmental Finance, Children Young People and Learning said the current financial climate continues to create difficulties in setting a balanced Schools Budget. This related to the tight financial settlement from the DfE that does not include funding for £2.7m of known cost pressures – equivalent to 3.3% of current spending - and the emerging long term pressure arising from new / expanding schools. To finance the budget changes considered necessary, the Council was proposing a one off draw down of £0.213m from the general balances of the Schools Budget meaning reductions to school budgets were not proposed.

Questions and comments from forum members were received in respect of:

• Was there any information on how the government intended to reduce the local authority role in running schools and remove a number of statutory duties to which officers confirmed that details were outstanding.
• Wasn’t it inevitable that school budgets would have to be cut in the future to pay for the diseconomy funding that expanding / new schools would required? Officers commented that the main factor to influence this would be the outcomes of the proposed National Funding Formula for Schools. With the BFC funding rate the 17^th lowest out of 151 LAs, it is considered more likely to benefit from this review than to be penalised.
• Would there be issues around providers having insufficient capacity to deliver the required places to meet the anticipated increase from doubling the free entitlement from 15 to 30 hours? Officers commented that plans were in place to meet future need including talks with those nursery providers who share premises with other community service providers.
• The investment of additional resources to increase the average hourly rate childcare providers receive was welcome as existing rates are considered low.
• With a recent report indicating a 20% reduction in SEN pupils, this may offset the additional costs anticipated moving forward from the increase in post-16 SEN numbers as a result of LA responsibilities being extended from age 19 to 25.

The Forum AGREED the following recommendations made in the report:

• That the administration arrangements in place in respect of the allocation of central government grants were appropriate and would remain unchanged.
• The budget amounts for each of the services centrally managed by the Council and funded from the School Block DSG.
• That the budget for Schools Block DSG is reset to £66.522m which was an increase of £1.246m  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

Future meetings of the Schools Forum are scheduled as follows:

10 March 2016

21 April 2016

16 June 2016

The next meetings of the Schools Forum were scheduled to take place at 4.30pm in the Council Chamber at Easthampstead House on:

Thursday 10 March 2016

Thursday 21 April 2016

Thursday 16 June 2016

If there was no business to discuss, meetings would be cancelled.

CHAIRMAN