The Forum considered a report which noted the update on the Funding Consultation with Schools.  In addition, a proposal for the de-delegation of facilities time from School Contingency and an increase to the centrally retained Growth Fund were included.

The Senior Finance Officer provided the Forum with an overview of the Consultation process and meetings held by the Technical Sub Group during the summer to help form the consultation document.  The Council also held seminars to help schools understand the changes to the funding formula and other aspects.  The seminar was under attended with only 15 representatives for 11 maintained schools and 3 academies.  However, the responses to the consultation showed some schools were still not fully understanding what was being proposed.  The Forum were asked to help provide suggestions of what the Council could do to provide further support to the Schools.

The Department for Education (DfE) held 2 consultations in 2011:

i.              Rationale and Principles

ii.            Proposals for a fairer system

In March 2012 a third consultation was held “Next steps towards a fairer system”.  The final arrangements for 2013/14 were announced on 28 June 2012.

On 4 June 2013 the final arrangements for 2014/15 were announced and the Council was required to consult with Schools and Academies on the proposed changes to the funding formulae.  The changes to the funding formulae were detailed in paragraph 6 of the report.

The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for 2014/15 will be split into three notional blocks: Schools, Early Years and Special Needs.  The per pupil unit of funding for each block would be as follows:

Schools: £4,144.47

Early Years: £3,979.80

There was a table within the report at paragraph 9 which provided the timeline for the implementation of the 2014/15 Funding Arrangements.

The Technical Sub Group had met twice to consider the funding model and the minutes of those meetings were attached at Appendix A to the report. 

The Senior Finance Officer explained that for the purposes of calculating the consultation responses the strongly agree and agree responses were put together as were the strongly disagree and disagree.  The EFA confirmed that our overall response rate was good and well above average.

De-Delegation

The Forum were asked to make a decision on the de-delegation of School Contingency for the maintained schools.  De-delegation only applies to Primary and Secondary schools.

In 2013/14 the total de-delegation of School Contingency was £100,000 at a rate of £5.63 per pupil.  In 2014/15 the total de-delegation of School Contingency is proposed to be £82,000 at the same rate of £5.63 per pupil.  It was noted that any unspent DSG is reported back to the Forum and will be carried forward in accordance with the regulations operating in the new financial year.

Growth Fund

The Growth Fund is for significant pre-16 growth in schools.  Funds are available to both maintained schools and academies.  Where a school has elected to expand they are not eligible for the Growth Fund.

The amount for 2013/14 was set at £800K and has been insufficient and is already overspent DSG by £25k.  The proposal before the Forum was to add an additional £200k making the total Fund £1m.  It was confirmed that should the funds not be fully utilised the balance would be returned to DSG and passed to schools.

RESOLVED

1.    That the responses to the proposed School Funding Consultation 2014/15 be noted.

2.    That the proposal to de-delegate facilities time at £5.63 per pupil for School Specific Contingency for the following phases:

a.    Primary Schools be agreed

b.    Secondary Schools be agreed

The voting was unanimous for both phases.

3.    That the proposal to increase the Growth Fund of £200,000 be agreed.