Agenda item

Liz Williams (Finance Lead – High Needs Block Sustainability) and Ben Stevens (Sustainability Strategic Lead – High Needs Block) will update Schools Forum and give a presentation on High Needs Sustainability: the Safety Valve Programme.

Liz Williams, Finance Lead – High Needs Block Sustainability, presented an introduction to the Safety Valve Programme; the slides of which can be found attached to these minutes. The following was highlighted:

·       It was explained that the previous meeting of the Schools Forum had received an update on the Delivering Better Value (DBV) in SEND Programme. In the time since the last meeting, Members were informed that Wiltshire Council had received an invitation to join the Department of Education’s (DfE) Safety Valve Programme which was a different level of intervention from the DBV Programme. As such, work on the DBV Programme had now ceased in place of the Safety Valve Programme.

·       Members were given context behind the High Needs Block (HNB) from a national perspective, as per Slide 1 of the presentation.

·       Slide 2 provided a Wiltshire Council specific perspective in respect of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) deficit and linked to the figures as detailed within the previous Agenda Item, Dedicated Schools Budget – Budget Monitoring 2023-24. It was noted that Wiltshire Council’s cumulative DSG deficit of £35.2m at the end of the 2022/23 financial year had triggered the DfE to look into incorporating Wiltshire into the Safety Valve Programme.

·       Slide 3 went into the reasons for deficit, analysing the expenditure and activity against the HNB, and how it correlated with the data gleaned through the DBV High Impact Analysis.

·       Slide 4 went through the current DSG Management Plan and it was noted that the table in the slide was the same as that in the Appendix of the previous Agenda Item’s report. It was further noted that the figures had been updated since the previous meeting of the Schools Forum to bring the income assumptions in line with the indicative settlement for the HNB for the next financial year and future years. Furthermore, forecast activity had also been updated in line with current growth trends and mitigations such as place sufficiency and alternative provisions, to provide a more informed forecast of activity within the plan. However, officers acknowledged that further improvements and work was needed to continue reducing the mitigated deficit for the future.

·       The differences between the two DfE Intervention Programmes that could support Councils in deficit (DBV and Safety Valve) were detailed as per Slide 5.

·       Slides 6 and 7 detailed what the DfE would commit to within the Safety Valve, and what the Council needed to commit to during the process.

·       Slide 8 displayed a graphic showing Wiltshire Council’s approach to the Safety Valve Programme to transform the High Needs System and Slide 9 detailed the priority workstreams for High Needs Sustainability that would feed into the Safety Valve work.

·       Slide 10 posed some ‘asks’ for the Schools Forum:

o   For two nominees from the Forum to be a part of the Programme Board to represent schools in Wiltshire and to consider creating a smaller Task and Finish Group to focus on the Safety Valve Programme from a schooling perspective to help provide assurance to the wider Board.

o   Some suggestions to support the planned half-day co-design workshop in November for Schools Forum Members.

o   To fill in the survey as detailed on the slide and to share it with colleagues.

In response to a question on Slide 10, it was confirmed that Governors were also welcome to be involved in the Programme Board. Furthermore, officers confirmed that one purpose of including School Forum Members in the workshops and Programme Board was to understand the root causes of the issues driving the overspend within the HNB in Wiltshire and to aid in finding solutions that worked for Wiltshire, by drawing on Members’ professional knowledge, expertise, and experiences.

The Chair suggested that all Members who wished to be part of the programme moving forward, contact the Democratic Services Officer, Lisa Pullin.

Following which, it was:

Resolved:

The Schools Forum noted the update on the Safety Valve Programme.