Agenda and draft minutes

Schools Forum - Wednesday, 15 January 2025 4.30 pm

Venue: Zoom Meeting

Contact: Jamie Beardsmore  01344 352500

Media

Items
No. Item

29.

Declarations of Interest

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.  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.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

30.

Minutes and Matters Arising pdf icon PDF 122 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of 5 December 2024.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 December 2024 were approved as a correct record.

 

Arising from the minutes:

·       Duane Chappell confirmed that information regarding the local offer had been shared with schools.

·       Duane confirmed the consolidation of information regarding headteacher training had been completed and would be circulated to headteachers imminently.

31.

2024 Childcare Sufficiency Assessment pdf icon PDF 75 KB

to update Schools Forum on the 2024 Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA), attached as Annex A, to be submitted to the Cabinet Member and subsequently published on the Bracknell Forest Council Website, as required by the authority’s statutory duty to secure sufficient childcare.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Forum received a report which provided an update on the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA), attached to the agenda pack as Annex A, to be submitted to the Cabinet Member and subsequently published on the Bracknell Forest Council Website, as required by the authority’s statutory duty to secure sufficient childcare.

 

Cherry Hall, Head of Early Years and Childcare, informed the Forum that this report examined the capacity for the current academic year as well as the necessary work required to manage capacity with a new rollout of childcare entitlements beginning in September. The report highlighted several key points to the Forum:

  • Starting September 2024, children aged 9 months to 3 years were entitled to 15 hours of childcare per week, increasing to 30 hours in September 2025.
  • As a result of the expansion of entitlements, it was anticipated that there may be a shortfall of up to 542 Early Years childcare places starting from September.
  • The data did not indicate a shortage of childcare places for school-aged children, partially due to the majority of schools offering wrap-around care services, with plans to further expand this provision.
  • Childcare for children with SEND seemed more challenging, and the Carer Forum was still collecting data on this.

 

The Forum noted the report.

 

32.

2025/26 Proposals for the Early Years Block Budget pdf icon PDF 158 KB

To seek agreement from Schools Forum to proposals for the 2025-26 early years budgets, including the values to be attributed to the Bracknell Forest Council Early Years Funding Formula and allocation of the Early Years Budget Grant 2025 to 2026.

 

Minutes:

The Forum received a report which sought agreement from Schools Forum to proposals for the 2025-26 early years budgets, including the values to be attributed to the Bracknell Forest Council Early Years Funding Formula and allocation of the Early Years Budget Grant 2025 to 2026.

 

Cherry Hall, the Head of Early Years and Childcare, informed the Forum that this report added the monetary values to the Early Years Formula agreed at the previous meeting of the Schools Forum. The proposals adjusted the use of the Early Years Budget Grant to ensure that the £69K grant was directed towards eligible school-based providers, aligning with the grant's original purpose. The report also addressed the allocation of the Early Years pupil premium grants, the disability access fund, and the special education needs inclusion fund.

 

Arising from questions and comments the following points were noted:

  • The Forum acknowledged the work completed regarding teacher funding hours.
  • The Forum was informed that the local authority could retain up to 5% of the Early Years Block until this year, when the allowance decreased to 4%. Bracknell Forest Council would retain this 4% to fund initiatives such as the Child Development Centre. It was anticipated that the local authority would continue to fund the necessary priorities despite this reduction.
  • Schools were encouraged to remind parents to sign the form that determined eligibility for Early Years Pupil Premium. This step would secure funding if the child became eligible in the future, even if they were not currently eligible.

 

RESOLVED that Schools Forum considers the early years budget proposal from the council and AGREES:

·       That the Early Years Budget Grant 2024 to 2025 is allocated to eligible schools as set out in points 5.1 to 5.6.

·       That for the 2025-26 financial year the Executive Member for Children, Young People and Learning sets:

                               I.         The early years dedicated schools grant (DSG) income budget at £23.689m (Table 2)

                              II.         The funding rates in the early years funding formula are as set out in Tables 3, 4 and 5

                            III.         The proposed budgets as set out in Annex mjj 1

 

33.

2025/26 Proposals for the Local Authority Budget pdf icon PDF 232 KB

To present to the Forum for comment a summary of the Council’s draft budget proposals for 2025/26 as agreed by the Cabinet on 10 December 2024, with a particular focus on the impact expected on the People Directorate.

 

Minutes:

 

The Schools Forum received a summary of the Council’s draft budget proposals for 2025/26 as agreed by the Cabinet on 10 December 2024, with a particular focus on the impact expected on the People Directorate.

 

Paul Clark informed the Forum that this was an annual paper presented to the Schools Forum as part of its formal consultation process for Bracknell Forest Council’s budget. The Forum was informed that Bracknell Forest Council was still waiting for the government’s financial settlement for local authorities; therefore, some estimates had to be made as part of the budget.

 

Revenue Budget

 

The Forum received an outline of the 5 main parts of the Revenue Budget:

  • Commitment Budget – Financial obligations the Local Authority had already committed to. This had a reduction of £8k.
  • Government Grants – These are grants provided by the central government that constitute a significant portion of the local authority budget. Some grants have not yet been confirmed, so estimates were used for these figures.
  • Services Pressures and Economies – There were pressures amounting to £8 million and economies worth £5.3 million. Key pressures in education included increased funding for educational psychologists and additional costs for home school transport.
  • Provision for Cost Increases – Budget to ensure adequate funding is available to accommodate rising costs resulting from inflation and pay awards. The estimated amount for this provision is approximately £3.8 million.

 

It is estimated that there will be an overall shortfall of £3.1 million, which could be addressed by either a significant increase in council tax, utilizing the council's reserves, or implementing further reductions and savings to alleviate pressures.

 

Arising from questions the following points were noted:

  • When additional resources are required in one area, it has been necessary to identify ways to offset them elsewhere. This has included adjustments to the neat budget, which was significant given the size of the local authority, to help balance budget requests.
  • It was confirmed that the Child Development Centre would be able to continue operating, with the main changes to being related to the structure of the funding.
  • Officers were focused on ensuring anything the local authority delivered was having the required impact that was necessary and getting good value for money.
  • Projecting costs from larger budgets more than a year into the future was challenging. Although forward planning was ongoing, forecasts could still change quarterly due to unforeseen factors.
  • The £79K reduction in the education learning budget was taken from services that had not been spending their full budget in recent years. Therefore, the budget reduction was an adjustment to the budget size and did not negatively impact staffing budgets.
  • Paul Clark would take back the Forum’s comments that unknown figures could be reported as N/A instead of 0 to the Executive Director: Resources to avoid confusion over the figures (Action Paul Clark).

 

 

Having Reviewed the report the Schools Forum agreed to submit the following comments as part of the budget consultation:

 

-          The Forum welcomes the proposed additional funding allocations  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

34.

2025-26 Proposals for the Schools Block and Central School Services Block Budgets pdf icon PDF 329 KB

To present final proposals from the Council for the 2025-26 Schools Block (SB) and Central Schools Services Block (CSSB) elements of the Schools Budget.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Forum received a report which presented final proposals from the Council for the 2025-26 Schools Block (SB) and Central Schools Services Block (CSSB) elements of the Schools Budget.

 

Paul Clark informed the forum that additional financial details were now available, allowing the report to allocate budget figures. No major changes to how the budget would be allocated were proposed. The October schools census played a key role in this decision. There was an overall average 8% increase in per pupil funding, with 7.2% from last year's grant money now allocated to the school budget. Additionally, there was a 0.2% increase from the deprivation fund, which operates on a one-year lag, and a 0.6% increase in the general funding rate to address cost pressures. Further funding for employers' contributions to the NI scheme will be provided throughout the year, though details were not yet available.

 

The schools census revealed a small 0.3% increase in pupils within the borough. Due to changes in additional educational needs measures, further allocations to schools needed funding. However, without financial support from the DfE, the local authority could only partially fund these changes.

 

The Block Transfer had been recalculated, although the cap at 0.5% remained for schools, now including those funded at the minimum rate allowed by the DfE.

 

The Forum was informed that certain proposals required approval from the Secretary of State for Education, which was anticipated to occur by February.

 

Arising from the questions the following points were noted:

  • The real term budget increase to cover cost pressures would be 0.8%.
  • The IFS had reported that on average schools would receive a per pupil funding increase on average of 2.6% whilst costs could rise 3.6%, however this did not align with the information the local authority had received from central government.
  • Paul Clark offered to provide more information with the minutes on the different interpretations of how budgets would be affected. (Action Paul Clark)
  • The main schools budget experienced a 7.2% increase, effectively replacing the grants that were awarded in the previous academic year to address rising costs.
  • Schools would receive their individual budgets by the end of January, which would give them a clearer picture of their finances for the following year. 

 

In discussion the Forum raised the following points:

  • There was great concern regarding the budget setting for 2025-26 with fears that it was growing even tougher.
  • The additional funding to over rises in employers’ national insurance contributions was welcomed.
  • There was great unease about a number of proposed measures, with the Forum feeling they needed more information from the DfE, with concerns over increasing pressures meaning the Forum only passed recommendations surrounding the central services block reluctantly.

 

RESOLVED that the Schools Forum

 

  • APPROVES that the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Learning is requested to approve:

1)          the changes to budgets as set out in Table 1, in particular:

A.      that the Schools Block DSG be set at £104.308m (columns A and B of line 4)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

35.

Dates of Future Meetings

The next meeting of the Forum will be held at 4.30pm on Thursday 13 March 2025.

Minutes:

The next meeting of the Schools Forum would take place on 13 March 2025.