Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Ms D Rutley, Ms S Fahey and Ms J Antrobus.

Ms S Stephens and Mr O Lloyd stated they would need to leave the meeting early.

Ms S Callaghan, Service Director for Education, would be delayed due to another commitment. 

Ms Kenward, Forum Clerk, gave an overview of the recent election process:

• The following people had been appointed to the forum; Mr S Sneesby, Mr O Lloyd, Ms P Coppins, Ms J Diver and Ms S Skinner.
• The election process was open for maintained combined school head teachers to vote for their open representative spot. The process would be open from 7 December to 14 December 2018.
• There were still seven open places on the forum and Ms Kenward would continue to seek nominations.
• There would need to be another election in May 2019.
• Ms Kenward welcomed suggestions for how to reach out to head teachers and governors to encourage forum participation.

It was noted that several members of the forum had not received the automated email confirming the agenda had been published. Ms Kenward would investigate.

ACTION: Ms Kenward

The following updates were received regarding outstanding actions:

• At the June 2018 meeting the forum had requested an update on the audit report to be brought back to this meeting. Ms M Stanford, Senior Auditor, explained that since June:
  • The finished audit document had featured in the Schools Bulletin newsletter
  • The team had given presentations at relevant forums including PEB.
  • The audit intranet page had been updated and redesigned.
  • There had been two visits to schools previously rated inadequate, they had made significant improvements and the full reports were due before Christmas 2018.
  • There was one further school visit due to take place in January 2019. Once complete the team would arrange visits for the rest of 2019.

·                                  The high needs block consultation had been promoted.

·           Regarding funding for excluded pupils Ms J Try, Senior Accountant, confirmed the reintegration grant would rise to £3,000 (from £1,500) payable once the placement was deemed successfully. Full details would be published in the Schools Bulletin and on Schools Web

ACTION: Ms Try

·           Ms Kenward had amended the constitution to reflect the changes to membership agreed at the June meeting.

·           With reference to further defining the required membership within the constitution e.g. grammar schools, rural schools and smaller schools; Advice was that it could be recommended but not required in line with national guidance. A member of the forum highlighted the importance of representation that reflected the diversity of Buckinghamshire. Ms Kenward noted that given the low number of responses during the recent election further narrowing criteria could be problematic. This would be discussed further outside of the meeting and ahead of the May 2019 elections.

ACTION: Mr Rosen

·           A statement had been published online regarding the wording used in the high needs block report.

·           With regards to accuracy Ms S Stephens and Mr G Drawmer would be marked as having attended the meeting held on 25 September 2018.

ACTION: Ms Kenward

RESOLVED: With the above amendments the minutes of the meeting held on 25 September 2018 were AGREED as a accurate record and signed by the Chairman.

There were no declarations of interest.

Report by Janaki Try.

For discussion and decision.

Ms J Try, Senior Accountant, gave an overview of the report circulated with the agenda.

Ms Try confirmed the consultation had used the same parameters as 2018-19 and any transfer agreed would apply to 2019-2020 budgets only. Ms Try also confirmed that the 34 responses were received.

The report set out the following recommendation:

• That Schools Forum notes the results of the consultation and agrees the transfer of £0.5m from Schools Block to the High Needs Block in 2019-20.

RESOLVED: The forum AGREED the recommendations It was acknowledged the decision was based on indicative DSG allocations that may change for October 2018 census data.

Update and recommendations from the sub group by David Hood.

For discussion and decision. Maintained school members only to vote.

De-delegation Group

Mr D Hood gave an overview of the report circulated with the agenda.

Mr Hood explained that the role of the de-delegation group was to make recommendations on transferring a proportion of Schools Block funding back to the County Council for the provision of services outlined in the report.

The de-delegation sub group where recommending keeping services and payments the same as 2018-19. However regarding financial support, it had been agreed between the group and Ms Williams, Head of Finance for Children’s Services, that there would be further work to define service level agreements and expectations of the service.

ACTION: Ms Williams

The report set out the following recommendations:

• That maintained primary and secondary representatives of Schools Forum agree to a total de-delegation charge for Existing delegation of £15 per pupil in Primary and £17.50 per pupil in Secondary.
• That maintained primary and secondary representatives of Schools Forum agree to a total de-delegation charge for former ESG services of £3.50 per pupil.
• That special school and PRU representatives on Forum agree to a total de-delegation charge for former ESG services of £14 per place.

RESOLVED: The forum AGREED unanimously to accept the report recommendations.

Contingency Group

Mr Hood confirmed that the group intended to produce guidance on submitting applications to the schools contingency fund to improve the quality of submissions.

ACTION: Ms Try

The report set out the following recommendations:

• That maintained primary and secondary representatives of Schools Forum agree to a total de-delegation charge for Existing delegation of £15 per pupil in Primary and £17.50 per pupil in Secondary.
• That maintained primary and secondary representatives of Schools Forum agree to a total de-delegation charge for former ESG services of £3.50 per pupil.
• That special school and PRU representatives on Forum agree to a total de-delegation charge for former ESG services of £14 per place.

RESOLVED: the forum AGREED the outstanding balance of the contingency fund would be reviewed at the end of the financial year to consider re-distributing funds.

Report by Liz Williams.

For information and decision.

Ms E Williams, Head of Finance, Children’s Services, gave an overview of the report circulated with the agenda. 

The following points were raised and discussed:

·      Ms Williams stated that the Department for Education (DfE) were aware of the County Council’s historic commitments and would decrease their funding as it reduced.

·      Mr M Appleyard, Cabinet Member for Education, gave an overview of the Home to School Transport consultation as an example of a long term initiative to save money. Mr Appleyard highlighted this was an area where costs had increased considerably especially in regard to the extended 19-25 year group.

·      It was confirmed that the schools premature retirement line was a historic commitment which covered scenarios such as retirement due to efficiency, an option that was no-longer available.

·      Member of the forum asked Ms Callaghan to confirm if the money transferred to the high needs block could be used specifically to support, trial or promote changes in strategy that would decrease costs and dependency in the long term. Ms Callaghan acknowledged the value of this but stated that there was no capacity in the budget to allow it.

The forum took a vote on the following recommendations:

• That Schools Forum approves the proposed budgets for the central schools services block and the notes pressures on these budgets for 2019-20 and future years as the funding reduces.
• That, in order to approve the proposed budget, Schools Forum support the proposal that further reductions should be sought from the historic commitment element of the central schools services block to support pressures relating to ongoing functions in 2019-20
• That Schools Forum supported the proposal to utilise the historic commitment element for revenue contributions to capital (CERA) of £1.708m to support pressures in the High Needs Block in 2019-20.

RESOLVED: Members of the forum AGREED the recommendations.

Report by Janaki Try.

Item for discussion and decision.

Ms Williams, Head of Finance, Children’s Services, gave a presentation; a copy of which would be appended to the minutes.

Mr S Kearney and Ms Callaghan joined the meeting during this item.

Ms Williams highlighted:

• The forum had agreed a transfer to the High Needs Block so only models 1 & 2 in the report were applicable.
• Figures were currently based on pupil numbers from the October 2017 schools census and would be updated once October 18 figures were available in time for the 15 January 2019 meeting.
• Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC) had now moved from the 6^th lowest funded to the 15^th lowest funded area.

A discussion was held on the long term impact of moving away from national funding formula (NNF) and the minimum funding guarantee (MFG).

The forum took a vote on the following recommendations:

• That the Growth Fund of £2.4m for 2019-2020 would be met from the Schools Block.
• Buckinghamshire County Council’s Growth Fund methodology for allocating funds to eligible school would remain the same.
• Model 1 should be used as the funding formula for 2019-2020
• A transfer of £0.5m from Schools Block to High Needs block

RESOLVED: the forum AGREED the recommendations.

Report by Sarah Callaghan.

For information and discussion.

Ms S Callaghan, Service Director for Education, gave an overview of the report circulated with the agenda.

In line with comments from the September 2018 meeting the paper gave an overview of what had already been done to reduce the dependence on this transfer of money from the central schools block.

The forum raised and discussed the following points:

• Regarding the short fall of local placements for children and young people with SEN   in September 2018, Ms Callaghan confirmed the report referred to students of statutory school age only as this is where the budget pressure is The budget pressure is owing to an ongoing dependency on high cost independent placements however, she did acknowledge that the SEN Strategy is to support children from 0-25 so it is critical that we work with Early Years providers so that needs can be identified early and so placements can be planned
• Ms Callaghan acknowledged that the types of in county placements available did not always reflect what was needed. She stated the intention going forward was to work with schools to increase placement numbers in areas of growth and to decommission under used placements. In was acknowledged that previously some schools had chosen to become academies instead however Ms Callaghan said that whatever the status of a school the viability of any school would depend  ton  shaping their offer to suit local needs.
• The list of schools and their specialisms appeared to be incomplete with Kite Ridge missing from the list. Ms Callaghan acknowledged that work was needed to formalise the list as some schools had started to cover other specialisms informally and therefore the list did not necessarily reflect all schools supporting young people with SEN.  Kite Ridge is formally designated as a PRU and so this may be why it is not included She would have Kite Ridge added to the list of schools.

ACTION: Ms Callaghan

• Ms J Mumford had joined the County Council as an interim Head of Service for SEN, with the permanent post due to be confirmed in January 2019. Ms Callaghan explained the length of time taken to secure a permanent replacement reflected the growth in demand nationally for SEN leaders.
• Members of the forum highlighted the importance of identifying students with additional education, health care (EHC) needs early to better support them in mainstream schools. Head teachers reported a rush to put plans in place for year 7 students whose needs had been managed informally in the primary school setting.  Ms Callaghan referred members of the forum to the SEN Strategy and the SEN Improvement Strategy for examples of how this was happening. Ms Callaghan would circulate the SEN Strategy and give a brief report against its seven priorities.

ACTION: Ms Callaghan

RESOLVED: Members of the forum NOTED the report.

That the press and public be excluded for the following item which is exempt by virtue of Paragraph 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12a of the Local Government Act 1972 because it contains information relating to any consultations or negotiations, or contemplated consultations or negotiations, in connection with any labour relations matter arising between the Authority or a Minister of the Crown and employees of, or office holders under, the Authority.

RESOLVED: the forum AGREED unanimously that the press and public be excluded for the following item which is exempt by virtue of Paragraph 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12a of the Local Government Act 1972 because it contains information relating to any consultations or negotiations, or contemplated consultations or negotiations, in connection with any labour relations matter arising between the Authority or a Minister of the Crown and employees of, or office holders under, the Authority.

A report from Gary Lamb, HR Policy & Reward Consultant.

For information and consultation.

15 January 2019, 1.30pm

Stafford Rooms, Green Park

15 January 2019, 1.30pm Green Park, Aston Clinton.

The meeting would focus on the Schools Delegation budget, Early Needs Block and the Forums forward plan for 2019/20.