Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary or affected interests in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

Any Member with an affected Interest in a matter must disclose the interest to the meeting and must not participate in discussion of the matter or vote on the matter unless granted a dispensation by the Monitoring officer or by the Governance and Audit Committee.  There is no requirement to withdraw from the meeting when the interest is only an affected interest, but the Monitoring Officer should be notified of the interest, if not previously notified of it, within 28 days of the meeting.

No declarations of interest were received.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of 14 September 2017.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 14 September 2017 be approved and signed by the chairman as a correct record subject to the addition of Marion Bent as a substitute for Martin Gocke.

To receive an update regarding the High Needs Block Funding Review.                     

The Forum received a report from Ian Dixon on the High Needs Block Funding Review which included the Headline High Needs Block Plan and an update on progress against the actions. The number of children impacted was questioned however the exact figures were not available as a lot of children were not routinely checked. It was also questioned whether sufficient support was given by parents and it was acknowledged that engagement with the parents forum is improving and that this was being built up over time.

It was noted that a special post 16 institution do not have a specific definition in law but are places currently outside the authority focusing on areas of special need which could include an offer up to the age of 25.

The High Needs Block Reports that Kennel Lane School did not agree with whether £5,000 was sufficient additional funding on top of £10,000 place funding for early opportunity places despite local and national indicators. Further to this, it was questioned what the local and national indicators were. National Indicators are taken from S251 returns and Local Indicators were from information shared at South East regional network The calculation of top ups paid to Kennel Lane Schools was also discussed where it was confirmed that they had been calculated from the cost base in place at the time of the initial price review.

No approval was required for the report from the forum as the plan had already been to CMT and Full Council but this was an opportunity to provide additional clarification.

Questions were raised about what the basis of the calculations detailed in the report were and it was confirmed that they were based on consultations and current costs. It was noted that the local authority wanted a smooth transition to any new arrangements and would be looking at the calculations again in the future.

It was questioned whether the internal audit report relating to SEN Resource Units was available for members of the forum to view and it was confirmed that the auditors would be circulating a redacted version to participants in the audit once this was available.

Ian Dixon thanked the forum for their continued support and input.

To receive proposals to revise the working arrangements of the Schools Forum.

The forum discussed proposals to revise the working arrangements for the Schools Forum in light of the important decisions coming up.

The idea of a pre-meeting was discussed in order to improve understanding of the complex topics which were considered during forum meetings however there were concerns this would reduce transparency. However, it was agreed that the purpose of the pre-meeting was to receive a briefing and not make any decisions. It was also acknowledged that a more user-friendly square table layout was preferred as it resulted in greater participation from members.

From these discussions it was agreed that all forum members could attend the chairman’s briefing which would start at 3.30pm on the day of the formal meeting. The formal meeting would continue to commence at 4.30pm.

The appointment of an independent chair was discussed although it was explained that it had been difficult to find someone who was interested and had relevant experience but that any appointment would be time limited until the end of the academic year, and then subject to annual approval.

RESOLVED that:

1.    The Schools Forum meetings be held in a more user friendly room (such as the Function Room)?; and,

2.    that meetings be extended to include a briefing for all members immediately before the formal meeting.

3.   David Cook be appointed independent Chairman of the Forum.

4.   Martin Gocke be appointed Vice Chairman of the Forum.

To receive an update on the School and Education Funding

Paul Clark gave an update on school and education funding and presented options for funding for 2018 – 2019.

It was reported that for the next 2 years there would be transitional arrangements in place when local authorities (LA) would receive their funding for schools in two separate blocks: the aggregated amount from each of their school’s National Funding Formula (SNFF) allocation; and a separate allocation for business rates, high pupil mobility and growth fund based on planned spend from 2017-18.

To assist a smooth transition to the SNFF, LAs would continue to use their local funding formula. It was also reported that DfE Regulations do not allow LAs to replicate the SNFF so LA school budgets will always be different to the SNFF.

There will be 2 elements of funding for protection for schools next year; the Minimum Funding Guarantee that will limit reductions in per pupil funding from 2017-18 to a maximum of 1.5%, although for the first time LAs have the power to set their own rate, although it must be between 0% (no change in per pupil funding) and minus 1.5% (schools need to absorb the first 1.5% reduction in per pupil funding); and new minimum per pupil funding rates of £3,300 for primary schools and £4,600 for secondary schools.

Despite there now being an extra £1.3bn funding (£416m 2018-19 and £884m              2019-20) in school budgets, there is no noticeable gain for BF schools from that previously announced in December 2016. This was because in general the extra money was being used to ensure those schools previously due to have a funding reduction or small increase would now all experience at least a 0.5% increase in per pupil funding. The overall change in funding based on 2017-18 census data showed an increase in funding over 2 years from the SNFF of £3.246m (5.1%), £1.696m in 2018-19 and £1.550m in 2019-20. For 2018-19 BF schools would see per pupil funding increases on the SNFF of between 0.5% to 3.9%.

It was also explained that LAs will be funded for the additional diseconomy costs for new schools based on the budget they set for 2017-18 whilst a new formula is developed for 2019-20. With BLV opening in September 2018, there would be a significant cost increase of new schools from the amount of funding provided, currently which is estimated at circa £0.555m in 2018-19 and a further £0.479m increase in 2019-20. This unavoidable pressure would need to be funded from within the overall £1.696m increase, meaning £1.141m would be available for distribution through school budgets.

The three funding options for schools to consider as part of the financial consultation were presented; option 1 was a close fit to SNFF, option 2 was the current Bracknell Forest formula with increases factors by the agreed budget strategy, option 3; was the current Bracknell Forest formula. Other questions on the consultation included whether maintained mainstream schools continued to support as they had done in previous years “de-delegation” of budgets where permitted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

7 December 2017

18 January 2018

22 March 2018

19 April 2018

The dates of the next meetings are as follows:

7 December 2017

18 January 2018

22 March 2018

19 April 2018