Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received from Michael Whitworth, Anthony Vourou, Nigel Taylor and Catherine Peters. Post-meeting apologies were received from Sarah Vipond.

CB apologised for the late release of the Schools Forum papers, but this was because the content on budget monitoring could not be released until after the P&R committee papers had been published.

There were no new members at this meeting, but Gilbert Knight welcomed Finbar McGaughey representing Cambridge Education, the Education Service Alternative Delivery Model (ADM) partners.

None.

Agreed as a true and accurate record of the last meeting.

VW advised that the application by Menorah High School for Girls has been approved by CELS, and the school would be joining the maintained sector on 1^st April 2016.

CB is liaising with the EFA to ensure the DSG income is received for the additional pupils.

FB presented the quarter 3 budget monitoring report, which shows no overall change to the schools budget. There has been a £1.4m movement as a result of revised High Needs top-up funding, revised 2, 3 & 4 year olds uptake figures and reduced Early Years Vulnerable Children (EYVC) expenditure. Appendix 1 of the papers shows the current projection of £1.7m underspend.

PH queried the fact that EYVC is now underspending when schools are bearing the cost and have been advised there should be no new referrals.  She asked if the application process for EYVC funding would now be reopened.  FB advised that she should contact the Family Services (Social Care) team for up-to-date guidance.

IH advised that there has been no detail from the DfE regarding the National Funding Formula consultation. It is not known whether any proposals will be a formula at school level or Local Authority level, but it is highly likely to be a move away from historic spend/ funding levels and there is an expectation that it will mean lower funding for London authorities (especially Inner London) but higher funding for northern authorities.

A number of organisations have undertaken some modelling, but as detail is not known these are not reliable. However, the London Councils group modelling suggests a change to LB Barnet of approximately -2%.  London Councils have proposed to the DfE that other LA funding levels should be brought up rather than London being reduced.  The consultation is expected in the next couple of months, although the government is aware that the timing is affected by the GLA election purdah period.  Any protection during the transition period is not known, nor is the timescale for this transitional protection. The proposals are expected to cover the High Needs and Schools Block first, with Early Years possibly following at a later stage. The proposals are also likely to include cuts to the Education Support Grant (ESG) for both maintained and academies/ free schools.

ML commented that the F40 (40 lowest funded authorities) website is accessible, and shows new proposals that indicate LB Barnet would lose ~£167 per pupil.  CM advised that current indications are that the government are not planning to accept the F40 proposals. Indications are that the higher area costs for London have been accepted and not questioned. VW suggested that members of the Schools Forum should respond robustly to the consultation once released, either as individuals or as a group.  The Schools Funding Team will offer assistance on this and will provide a briefing to support the Schools Forum response. SH asked if the DfE per pupil figure is likely to recognise deprivation. CM stated that this is not known.

VW recapped the reasoning for the council decision to establish an Alternative Delivery Model (ADM) in order to maintain support services to schools.  At the end of a complex process (where Headteachers and Governors have worked closely with the LA),  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7a        2016/17 Draft Budget

7b        2016/17 APT submission

7c        2016/17 High Needs Places

CB provided a copy of the draft budget that will be considered by the P&R committee on 16^th February 2016, and which forms the majority of the information submitted to the DfE in Section 251 (s251) at the end of March.  Members should note that underspends from previous years have been crucial in covering the cost of growth in Barnet, both in pupil numbers and new schools; this is costing approximately £3.5m - £4m per annum. £1.3m will be used to support the growth fund in 2016/17, but further underspends will be needed to support growth going forward.  Other LAs are either setting deficit budgets or are cutting funding to schools to cover this pressure.

All proposals in the 2016/17 draft budget are based on the status quo, as any future national funding formula requirements are not known at this stage and should not affect 2016/17.

In a change to the budget presented to Schools Forum in October, the 2016/17 draft budget proposals include an increase in the AWPU of £10 for all Reception – Year 11 pupils.  An additional £500k has also been factored into the HN budgets in order to lift the top-up rates by 2% to schools.  Central services costs have been retained at flat cash levels, although this is a smaller percentage of expenditure as pupil numbers and the DSG grows.  The table shows the gross budget figures that are needed for s251, and the net budgets after Academy/ Free School recoupment.  (Budget monitoring is reported against net budget figures).

Members were asked to vote on the 2016/17 draft budget proposals.

Vote: Carried, unanimous.

The final 2016/17 Authority Proforma Tool (APT) was submitted to the government on 21^st January 2016.  This detailed Barnet’s final 2016/17 funding formula for both maintained schools and academies.

The APT released in December giving the October school census data showed a significant drop in IDACI scores affecting all London authorities. In previous years, Barnet funded the top 3 IDACI bands (4, 5 and 6) in the funding formula.  However, Barnet schools no longer have any pupils at IDACI level 6.  This change would have significantly reduced the overall amount allocated through deprivation funding, and also put the majority of schools on the minimum funding guarantee (MFG).

In order to rectify this demographic change and to lift schools off the MFG, officers agreed that Barnet should continue to fund the top 3 IDACI bands - now bands 3, 4 and 5 - and that the same overall amount should be distributed through deprivation factors.  Additionally, modelling indicated that it was advantageous to secondary schools to distribute a greater amount through IDACI and less through FSM6, although the overall ratio between primary and secondary funding remains consistent at 1:1.29

As a result of these rate adjustments, the cap on gains that had been proposed to the Schools Forum in October at 15% can now be raised to 20% without increasing the overall  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

1.    Welcome to new members

2.    Apologies for absence

3.    Declarations of interest

4.    Minutes of previous meeting

5.    Matters arising

6.    Items for information

·         2015/16 Budget Monitoring – Final Outturn

·         2016/17 Budget

7.    Items for decision/ discussion

·         National Funding Formula consultation

8.    Draft agenda for next meeting – 7th July 2016

9.    Any other business

KN wanted to draw members’ attention to the teacher retention and recruitment working party, as there is currently insufficient secondary representation on this group. He asked Headteachers to canvas members for this sector where possible.

Dates of future meetings:

12 May 2016, 4pm.              Training Room 3, BEST hub, Colindale

7 July 2016, 4pm.                 Training Room 3, BEST hub, Colindale

Meeting closed at 5.30pm