Meeting documents

To accept apologies for absence and changes (temporary or otherwise) in membership.

Apologies were received from Mrs KSimmons, Mrs G Bull, Councillor Zahir Mohammed, Mrs S Skinner and  Mrs K Douglas

During discussions declarations of interest were made as follows:

Ms W Terry; Buckinghamshire Learning Trust 

Mr P Rowe; Alternative Resource Provision

18 October 2016, to be confirmed as an accurate record and signed by the Chairman.

The minutes of the meeting held on --- date were agreed as a correct record & signed by the Chairman.

The follow updates  were noted:

Ø  David Hood was in attendance at the meeting

Ø  Item 5 (page 8): It was suggested BLT be invited to a future meeting to discuss potential projects being explored to provide an income stream.

ACTION: Mr J Huskinson/ Ms R Bennett

Any matters arising and actions from the previous meeting

None.

Update report presented by Mrs S Kershaw.

Mrs S Kershaw, Senior OD officer at the County Council attended the meeting to set out the options identified when considering what pay award to apply to Bucks Pay Schools.

Following the decision made last year to maintain Range 1A and increase in line with National Living Wage (NLW), the Senior Appointments and Bucks Pay Award Committee SABPAC were required to make a decision this year whether to apply a percentage (or other) pay award to all Bucks Pay Schools, as well establish the amount.

The report from Mrs Kershaw set out the following options identified and asked for the view of the School Forum.

1)    No increase to any range except to meet NLW requirements

2)    A percentage increase for all ranges, with an additional increase for R1A to meet NLW.

3)    A percentage increase for all ranges, with an additional increase to  meet and slightly exceed NLW requirements (e.g. if standard increase was agreed at 1%, an increase of 2.7% could be applied to Range 1A to  bring  the value up to £7.60 per hour.

Mrs Kershaw highlighted the following points:

Ø  SABPAC had discussed Pay for School support staff at a recent committee meeting and supported Option 2

Ø  SABPAC would make the final decision however any awards agreed would be paid from the school’s budget

Ø  Due to the Government cap of an average 1% on public sector increases, a 1% increase had been applied to Teachers pay scales in September 2016

RESOLVED

Schools Forum agreed to support Option 2 and suggested that the increase applied should be consistent with the 1% applied to teachers pay scales.

Mrs Kershaw advised the Forum that there would be a further opportunity to provide input during December and January, as a consultation with school employees would be published via Schools Bulletin.

The Forum thanked Mrs S Kershaw for the update.

To receive an update on known national proposals and an update from Cllr Mohammed from F40 and meetings with Government Ministers

Mr P Rowe advised the Forum that Councillor Zahir Mohammed was unable to attend the meeting as he was attending a meeting with Justine Greening, Secretary of State for Education as a Member of the F40 group. 

Mr J Huskinson advised that Finance meetings had now been pushed back to January 2017 as the Government settlement details would not be provided until 14-20 December 2016.

Mr Rowe advised that the Schools Forum Funding Group were working to four key principles:

1. There was an unavoidable necessity to significantly reduce expenditure.  The specific amount expenditure would need to be reduced by was dependent on details to be supplied by the Government, due mid December
2. The SEND Review had an explicit aim to reduce expenditure however had not yet focussed down on how much of a reduction or by when
3. The ‘worst case’ scenario was being budgeted for, were the outcome to be more positive once Government data had been received some of these proposed reductions could be mitigated
4. ‘Equal pain’ across all sectors with no areas immune to cuts

Verbal update from Mr N Wilson.

Mr N Wilson attended the meeting to provide an update on the SEND Review and its findings.

 An overview of the key findings were highlighted as follows:

Ø  The SEND Review had now concluded and the first draft of strategy and priority plan had been developed 

Ø  Buckinghamshire had more children statemented within its  schools compared to other areas (3.8%), which sat  above national benchmarks

Ø  Through the consultation exercise it was clear that there was not much descent in the findings

Ø  There was a strong involvement  from parents and carers

Ø  It was recognised that there was the need for investment in the improvement and planning process

Ø  20-30 groups have been involved in the strategies development

Ø  The strategy was due to be presented to One Council Board on 30 November 2016 and would need to go through the appropriate Member Decision Process following OCB approval

Mr Wilson informed the Forum that the analysis of the review had highlighted 7 key priorities:

Members of the Forum made the following points:

Ø  It was queried whether there was a funding difference between SEND children in mainstream and special schools. Mr N Wilson advised that specialist schools were funded £10k per child, with top up being available through existing mainstream budgets.  

Ø  It was suggested  that there be open communications with all the stakeholders, to ensure all have a better understanding of the position going forward

Ø  The need for a more robust process when applying for Higher Needs Funding was highlighted.  It was advised that once the funding was granted, funding was not monitored to determine how it had been spent. 

Ø  It was queried who would be delivering the Strategy and Priority Plan once it had been approved.  Mr Wilson confirmed that it would require a drive from schools and members of the Forum and Strategic Leadership from the County Council.  The resource for this was yet to be allocated, however the need for funding change management capacity had been requested with specific sector knowledge

It was queried where the governance for the project would sit, Mr Wilson confirmed there was a proposal for a governance structure, where a strategic group come together to support and advocate the project.

To consider updates on the proposed allocation of DSG plus specific related matters, which are being discussed at SFFG on 22 November

Growth Fund and Growing Schools

Mr J Huskinson presented the report which set out the additional funding available for new schools, growing schools, those being reorganised or those with falling numbers, and highlighted the potential of those that may be financially disadvantaged for a time due to the way that the formula allocated funding.

With the information provided in the report, Mr Huskinson asked the Forum to consider the following options identified:

Option 1 to not allow a disapplication request and leave the school(s) affected to manage this.

Option 2 to support the disapplication request being made to the EFA in all applicable cases, either on a Growth Fund basis or a variation in pupil numbers basis

Option 3 for the Forum or a delegated group of the Forum to review each case on its own merits and where agreed, support the disapplication to the EFA, either on a Growth Fund basis or a variation in pupil numbers basis

Recommendation

The Schools Forum Funding Group recommended that Schools Forum agree with Option 2, with advice on whether the Growth Fund or pupil adjustment was the most appropriate being left to the Local Authority (LA), in liaison with Schools Forum and Education Funding Agency (EFA) to agree.

Members of the Forum made the following comments:

Ø  Consideration needed to be given to free schools; in theory their budget would include diseconomies when they submitted their initial plans in so contingency would be available for maintained schools.  Free schools should have a budget plan and rely on the Forum to take on the risks when issues occur.  This message was to be fed back to the EFA.

Ø  Were Option 1 selected, would this stop a school applying to contingency fund if they had made the wrong calculations?  Mr Huskinson confirmed that it would not, however if Option 3 was chosen this would mean they would be unable to apply for contingency funding as this would be available to maintained schools only.

Mr Huskinson advised the Forum to consider the information set out in the Growth Fund – Start Up Grant report before making a decision. 

Following discussions on the Growth Fund – Start Up Grant the Forum took a vote on the 3 options set out and the result was recorded as follows:

Option 1 – 14

Option 2 – 2

Abstaining - 1

Majority vote for Option 1 was recorded. 

RESOLVED

The Forum AGREED with Option 1.

Growth Fund – Start Up Grant

Mr Huskinson presented the report outlining the Start Up Grant available to all new schools.  As highlighted in the report, due to Green Ridgeway Academy opening in September 2017 a decision was required on what funding was available between now and then.  The County Council were seeking to formalise the arrangements for future provisions.

The options were highlighted as follows:

Option A

To agree a set rate for all new schools of £200,000 for primary mainstream schools, historically this has been around the level of funding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Mr M Moore provided a verbal update following the last Contingency Group.

It was confirmed there was an approximate £150k left in the pot with still two meetings to take place before year end, therefore it was doubtful all requests would be met.

Mr Moore also suggested that due to additional pressures predicted in 2017/18, more requests to the contingency group are likely. The money therefore to be allocated to the group for next year should be higher than in previous years. 

It was confirmed that Mr D Hood would be taking over as Chairman following the next Contingency Meeting. 

Any items or matters arising from the SFFG that are not covered by the main agenda

All items were discussed in previous items. 

To consider any other urgent business notified to the Chair before the start of the meeting

No other business to discuss.

Meeting closed 16.35.