Agenda item

The report of Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager) seeks to update Schools Forum on the results of the recent consultation with maintained schools relating to the removal of the School improvement, monitoring and brokering grant – 2023-24.

Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager) referred to the report which sought to update Schools Forum on the results of the recent consultation with maintained schools relating to the removal of the Local Authority Monitoring and Brokering (LAMB) Grant for 2023-24 and highlighted the following:

• The LAMB had been provided to LA’s since 2017, to help fulfil their core improvement activities, which was based on the number of maintained schools.  The proposals from the DfE were to reduce the grant by 50% in 2022-23 with full removal in the 2023-24 year.  For the 2022-23 year, maintained schools members of Schools Forum agreed to fund the loss of 50% of the LAMB grant through de-delegation and would consult colleagues once again before any decision would be taken for the 2023-24 year;

• The consultation was open to all maintained schools and 39 responses were received from 4 secondary, 34 primary and 1 special school.  The overall results showed that the majority supported funding of the LAMB grant at 100% as their first choice.  This was also the preference for primary schools; and

• Out of the 5 responses from secondary and special schools the preference was to fund the LAMB grant at 50%, but Officers were aware that subsequent to the consultation that schools had been in discussions with Andrew Best (Head of School Improvement) and that there had been a slight change in the thinking of how the LAMB grant should be funded.

A primary school governor representative commented that the figures demonstrated that collectively, there was more support funding a 75% - 87.5% loss of LAMB funding.  Grant Davis responded that Officers had to draw conclusions from the consultation but that it was not an exact science and yes there was a mixed bag of responses.  Grant was aware that the Primary Heads Forum had also met with Andrew Best to discuss the School Improvement offer going forward.  With the consultation findings and the value added discussions that had happened since between Andrew Best and schools, Andrew had indicated that he would have a year to demonstrate the value of the School Improvement service and if it did not perform as expected for schools then of course he would assume that schools would not agree to funding of it in future years.

A maintained primary representative confirmed that she had been worried about committing to the funding of the LAMB grant but recognised the support given by the School Improvement service to the schools who may be looking to become an academy.  However, given the current financial issues for schools with pay increases etc she was hearing now from colleagues that perhaps the schools would prefer for 87.5% of funding of the LAMB grant.

A maintained secondary school representative reported that he had met with Andrew Best who acknowledged that he had 12 months to show value for money.  The representative felt that if they didn’t support the grant at this level the impact would be significant and on behalf of maintained schools, he was in support of the funding of 100% of the LAMB grant.

The primary school governor representative reported that she had concerns around the clarity of the role of the School Improvement Officer but from listening to comments was now slightly reassured.  Grant Davis reported that Andrew Best had worked hard to share with schools his intentions for the service and how he planned to deliver the model of support.  If the funding for the LAMB grant was not approved schools could pool their money together  to purchase an external school improvement service as part of a cluster arrangement.  However the emphasis was clearly for Andrew Best to deliver a service that schools were happy with otherwise they would vote with their feet in future years.

Resolved: That Schools Forum

1.     Note the local consultation responses in relation to the school improvement services for the 2023-24 financial year.

2.     Agree to make the “in principle” decision of funding the LAMB grant at 100% for the 2023-24 year, for both Primary and Secondary schools.