To consider an update on the Dedicated Support Grant (DSG) arrangements and Funding Reform Consultation.

The Chairman opened the meeting by expressing thanks, on behalf of the Forum, to the members of the Technical Funding Group and the Council’s officers for their efforts in preparing the consultation on the revised school funding formula for 2013/14 in Central Bedfordshire.

Consideration was first given to the background to the requirement for the consultation exercise.  The meeting was reminded that the Department for Education (DfE) had launched its own consultation on school funding reform, entitled ‘Next Steps Towards a Fairer System’, in March 2012.  That consultation had ended in May 2012 and the final funding arrangements for 2013/14 announced on 28 June 2012.  The meeting noted how, under the new arrangements, the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) would be split into three notional blocks:  Schools, High Needs and Early Years.  Local authorities would be free to move funding between the blocks subject to compliance with the requirements of the Minimum Funding Guarantee and central expenditure.  The entire Schools Block had to be delegated to schools with a few exceptions.  The meeting noted the arrangements for the High Needs and Early Years funding blocks.  The arrangements for these blocks did not form part of the consultation process.

The meeting further noted that the DfE had announced that it would introduce a national funding formula in the next Spending Review period.  To support the movement towards this all local authorities were required to simplify their arrangements for distributing funding to schools and other providers.  The current School Funding Regulations allowed for up to 37 funding factors in an authority’s formulae; Central Bedfordshire Council operated with 27 but from 2013/14 only 12 factors would be allowed, two of which did not apply to Central Bedfordshire.

Members were aware that, as a result of the DfE’s announcement, a Technical Funding Group had been formed at the Schools Forum meeting on 25 June 2012 to consider the factors in the Council’s current formula which were not compliant under the new system.  The minutes of two of the three Group meetings which had been held were attached at Appendices A and B to the report (the third meeting having not been minuted due to the nature of its workload).  Arising from the Group meetings a draft ‘School Funding Consultation 2013/14’ document had been prepared.  A copy of the document, attached at Appendix C to the report, included proposals for allocating all funding through the factors which were permissible under the new system.  Also arising from the Group meetings had been the preparation of a Frequently Asked Questions document to help with initial questions.  A copy of the document was attached at Appendix D to the report. 

With regard to the timescale for the consultation it was noted that the consultation document and the Frequently Asked Questions sheet would be issued to schools on 4 September and surgeries for specific school queries would be held at the Council’s offices in both Chicksands and Dunstable on 20 September 2012.  There would no presentations on the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.