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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Melksham Town Hall, Market Place, Melksham, Wilts. SN12 6ES

Contact: Kirsty Butcher  tel: 01225 713 948 or email:  kirsty.butcher@wiltshire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

40.

Apologies and Changes of Membership

Minutes:

Apologies were received from:

 

Mrs Ann Ferries

Mrs Jane Franchi

Mr Tim Gilson

Rev. Alice Kemp

Cllr Laura Mayes

Dr Tina Pagett

41.

Minutes of the previous Meeting

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 4 October 2012 (copy attached)

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman introduced the item and drew attention to the amended wording for minute no. 29 circulated at the meeting.

 

In matters arising from the minutes the Forum’s attention was drawn to minute no. 37 on the Minimum Funding Guarantee Exceptions 2012-13. A response had been received from the Education Funding Agency (EFA) in which 4 recommendations had been refused:

 

·       Special staff costs

·       Service school safety net

·       Rents, where the school no longer qualifies under the revised funding proposals

·       Split site funding where a school no longer qualifies

 

The Forums support was sought to appeal against the refusal of the recommendations for special staff costs and the service school safety net.

 

Resolved:

 

1.     To accept the amended wording for minute no. 29;

 

2.     To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes from the meeting held on 4 October 2012 subject to the amendment above; and

 

3.     To support an appeal to the EFA to reconsider their refusal of the recommendations regarding special staff costs and service school safety net within the Minimum Funding Guarantee Exceptions 2012/13.

42.

Declaration of Interests

To receive any declarations of pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

43.

Chairman's Announcements

Minutes:

The Chairman drew attention to the letter circulated to Committee members and attached to these minutes from Sarah Healy, Director of the Education Funding Group which stated that a Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) would operate post 2014-15.

 

It was noted that for special schools, whilst technically there is a MFG for the top up rate for each pupil, there is no protection against any loss of funding for unfilled places.

44.

Schools Forum Terms of Reference

To agree the new Terms of Reference for the Schools Forum following the publication of the new Schools Forums (England) Regulations 2012 and which came into effect on 1 October 2012.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Kirsty Butcher, Democratic Services Officer introduced the report and highlighted section 10 of the Terms of Reference which introduced rules around public participation and reflected the requirement to hold all Schools Forum meetings in public.

 

In response to questions she confirmed that the agenda and minutes were currently circulated to all schools via wisenet, and it was suggested that the circulation be extended to include all early years providers given the change in the Early Years Single Funding Formula.

 

Resolved:

 

1.     To endorse the Terms of Reference;

 

2.     To recommend that the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services on behalf of the Cabinet approve the Terms of Reference for the Wiltshire Schools Forum; and

 

3.     To include Early Years Providers on the distribution list for agenda and minutes.

 

 

45.

Schools Funding Reform

To agree the funding formula which will be submitted to the Education Funding Agency by 31 October 2012.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Liz Williams introduced the item and confirmed the need to agree the formula at this meeting.

 

Funding for deprivation

 

She introduced the new information that the Forum had asked for when considering deprivation and explained that the latest data available for Experian was from January 2012 census and the IDACI and FSM Ever 6 data was from October 2011. She explained that the most deprived schools ranked highly whichever data set was used however it was clearer with the rural primary schools that IDACI either picked them up or not and suggested that FSM Ever 6 may be a better fit.

 

Feedback from the WASSH meeting showed the difficulty in selecting either measure as there were variations within both which made it very tricky.

 

Despite frustrations around FSM Ever 6 there was a closer ranking between it and Experian with fewer moving significantly and it was confirmed that FSM Ever 6 was a measure that will continue to be used in the future.

 

Attention was drawn to the changes being introduced through Welfare Reform and the impact they could have in the future on the numbers of pupils eligible for free school meals. It was confirmed that the decision could be reviewed in a year’s time.

 

In answer to questions the proportion of funding allocated to deprivation was confirmed as £4.5 million, or 2% of the total to be allocated on a per pupil basis.

 

Resolved:

 

To use Free School Meals data across all schools to determine how funding for deprivation will be distributed to schools.

 

Lump Sum

 

The Forum noted that the Education Funding Agency had sent a letter to Somerset stating that they would be working with rural counties to look at the impact of the formula and Wiltshire would be contacting them regarding involvement in this.

 

It was estimated that 48% of school would be losing using a lump sum of £100,000, combined with FSM Ever6, however this model gave the lowest number of schools losing compared with the other options.

 

Attention was drawn to the previous agreement that the cost of the MFG would be funded through limiting of gains to approximately 0.7%.

 

Resolved:

 

To set the level of lump sum within the formula at £100,000.

 

 

Formula Factors

 

 

Liz Williams detailed the factors seen in appendix 3 to her report and incorporating the resolutions above and confirmed the formula would go to Cabinet on Tuesday 23 October and be submitted to the EFA by 31 October 2012.

 

Resolved:

 

1.     To recommend to Cabinet that the formula factors shown in appendix 3 using FSM Ever 6 as the indicator for deprivation and a lump sum of £100,000 be approved; and

 

2.     To review the formula factors in 12 months time.

 

Delegation of Central Budgets

 

Liz Williams explained that viability of providing services centrally would continue to be looked at on an annual basis however it was agreed that for next year they could continue to be provided if budgets were de-delegated either for all maintained schools or  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

46.

Urgent Items

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

Minutes:

The Forum thanked Phil Cooch for 38 years of service at Wiltshire Council and wished him every success in the future.