Agenda

Items to be considered whilst the meeting is open to the public

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

To approve as a correct record and sign the minutes of the meeting held 19 January 2023 (copy attached).

To receive any announcements from the Chair.

To note any declarations of interests.

Schools Forum welcomes contributions from members of the public who are able to ask questions or make a statement in relation to the responsibilities and functions of the Forum at each meeting. A maximum of 15 minutes will be allocated to this at the start of each meeting, and each question or statement should last no longer than 3 minutes.   Please register with the Officer named on this agenda, and in accordance with the deadlines below.

Statements

Members of the public who wish to submit a statement in relation to an item on this agenda should submit this electronically to the Officer named on the agenda no later than 5pm on Tuesday 6 June 2023 (1 clear working day before the meeting).  Statements must not be defamatory, frivolous, offensive, vexatious, unlawful or otherwise improper. They must not name or identify individual service users, members of staff or members of partner agencies.

Questions

Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions to the Officer named on the front of this agenda no later than 5pm on Thursday 1 June 2023 to allow a response to be formulated.  Questions are limited to a maximum of 2 per person/organisation. A response will be given as either a direct oral answer or a written reply. Questions must not require the disclosure of confidential information.  The Chair’s ruling on rejection of a question is final.

The Forum will be asked to note the minutes/updates from the following meetings:

·      Early Years Reference Group – 31 March 2023.

·      Joint meeting of the School Funding Working Group and SEN Working Group – 22 May 2023 – these are to follow as part of an Agenda supplement

Schools Forum will receive an update on the FACT programme from Simon Thomas (FACT Programme Lead).

The report of Marie Taylor (Head of Finance – Children and Education) seeks to provide the budget monitoring year end position of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for the financial year 2022-23 as at 31 March 2023.

The report of Marie Taylor (Head of Finance – Children and Education) seeks to present budget monitoring information against the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for the financial year 2023-24 as at 30 April 2023 – this report is to follow as part of an Agenda supplement.

Cate Mullen (Head of SEND and Inclusion) will give a verbal update on behalf of the High Needs Working Group. 

Cate Mullen will also give an update on the and Delivering Better Value in SEND Programme and some guidance summary notes are attached for information.

The report of Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager) seeks to provide an update following the Department for Education (DfE consultation with stakeholders regarding their reforms to the National Funding Formula (NFF), which took place between June and September 2022.

The report of Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager) seeks to brief Schools Forum and agree a set of questions to be sent out to all schools in the autumn of 2023 in relation to:

·        Delegation of Central Expenditure 2024-25

·        Funding for Education Function 2024-25

·        Transfer of funding from Schools Block to High Needs Block 2024-25.

Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager) will provide a verbal update on the work of the F40 group.

The report of Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager) seeks to provide Schools Forum with an update required to the Wiltshire Scheme for Financing Maintained Schools.

To confirm the dates of future meetings, as follows:

5 October 2023

5 December 2023

18 January 2024

14 March 2024.

To consider any other items of business, which the Chair agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

Item(s) during consideration of which it is recommended that the public should be excluded because of the likelihood that exempt information would be disclosed