Agenda and draft minutes

To note any apologies and changes to the membership of the Forum.

Apologies were received from Mrs Aileen Bates, Ms Michelle Chilcott, Mrs Judith Finney, Mrs Sue Jiggens, Mr George Croxford, Ms Amanda Burnside, Mr Mark Cawley and Ms Jill Hughes.

To approve as a correct record and sign the minutes of the meeting of 5 October 2017 (copy attached).

The minutes of the previous meeting were discussed. Following a proposal, the meeting;

Resolved

Toapproveas acorrectrecord andsignthe minutesofthemeetingof 5October2017 with the following amendment:

That Minute 59 should be amended to note that demand was one of 14 recommendations in the Wood report.

The Chairman welcomed all to the meeting and asked those in attendance to introduce themselves.

To note any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations made.

To receive a verbal update from Susan Tanner (Head of Commissioning and

Joint Planning) on the Children and Young People’s Trust Board.

Susan Tanner (Head ofCommissioning and Joint Planning) gave a verbal update on theChildren and Young People’sTrust Board.

Matters covered included: the recommissioning of young carers support and short breaks scheme; and that documentation available through Wisenet and Pathways.

Resolved

To note the update.

Attached is a copy of the budget monitoring information against the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for the financial year 2017-18 as at 31 October 2017 which has been prepared by Liz Williams (Head of Finance).

The meeting considered the report which provided budgetmonitoringinformationagainstthe DedicatedSchoolsGrant(DSG)for thefinancialyear2017-18 asat 31October2017.

Matters raised in the course of the presentation and discussion included: that a small underspend had been predicted; this had included  pre-entitlement for two-year olds, but this was likely to be amended; that there was no detailed projection for 3-4 year olds; that the January report should have better projection; that there had been overspending on the high needs budget, a significant movement since the last report; that £600,000 reserve would be rolled over, and down ward adjustment will need be reflected; and that if there was to be an overspend that this would be funded from grant next year.

Resolved

To note the budget monitoring position at the end of October 2017 and the continued pressure on high needs budgets.

To receive minutes, reports and/or verbal updates from the following working

group:

Joint Meeting of School Funding Working Group and SEN Working Group.

The meeting received an update fromthefollowingworkinggroup:

-       Joint MeetingofSchoolFundingWorking Groupand SENWorkingGroup.

It was noted that the early years working group had not yet met, but would meet before the next Schools Forum.

It was also noted that the Funding Working Group had met to discuss de-delegation and had submitted its views.

The report which has been prepared by Liz Williams (Head of Finance) sets out a proposal for a revised funding formula for Wiltshire schools in 2018-19 following consideration of the government’s proposals for a national funding formula (NFF) and consultation with schools. 

The meeting considered the report, prepared byLiz Williams (Head ofFinance), which set out aproposalfor a revised funding formulafor Wiltshire schools in 2018-19 followingconsiderationofthe government’s proposalsfor a nationalfunding formula (NFF)and consultation with schools.

Matters raised in the course of the presentation and discussion included: that the report would go to Cabinet next week; that officers are not asking for decision at cabinet on de-delegation as this is a decision reserved for Maintained schools in the Forum; that officers had conducted consultation on changes to the formula following the previous discussions at the forum; that some factors are retained but the data that informs it has changed to be more in line with NFF; that other factors, not previously used, like sparsity had been included for the first time in the local formula; the other changes that were proposed; how the distribution of funding will be changed; the number of schools that will benefit, twenty eight for sparsity, that would benefit; the minimum per pupil funding level and that four secondary schools should benefit from the introduction of the new factor; how the funding will change in new formula for each factor; that additional money available through the NFF; the protections limits to gains/losses for schools, and the guarantees for funding; the operation guidance, and the modelling used to test the application of the guidance; the process of consultation and the results from schools.

At the conclusion of the debate, the meeting;

Resolved

1.    To approve the that relation to the school funding formula for 2018-19:

a)    That the Wiltshire formula be changed to reflect the factors used in the NFF for 2018-19

b)    That the minimum funding guarantee be set at +0.5% per pupil in 2018-19

c)    That the criteria to be used for allocating funding for split sites be defined as follows:

‘A school will receive split site funding if, of necessity, it has 2 (or more) distinct campuses between which travel of 0.5 miles or more, by means of a public highway, is required and Class teaching and learning must take place on all sites with physically detached administration’

2.    To determine that the following budgets/services will continue to be de-delegated in 2018-19 taking in to account the outcomes of the consultation with maintained schools:

a)      HCSS Software Licence

b)     Trade Union Facilities Costs

c)      Maternity Costs

d)     Ethnic Minority Achievement Service

e)      Traveller Education Service

f)       Behaviour Support Service

To confirm the dates for future meetings as follows:

Thursday 18 January 2018

Thursday 22 March 2018.

The meeting noted that the next meetings would be held on:

18 January 2018

22 March 2018.

Any other items of business, which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items.