Agenda and minutes

Venue: Building 3, North London Business Park, Oakleigh Road South, London N11 1NP

Contact: School Funding Team  Email: schoolfunding@barnet.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome to new members

Minutes:

GK welcomed members to the first meeting of 2019. There were no new members joining Schools Forum on this occasion.

 

2.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Jo Djora, Matthew Stevens, Robin Archibald and Lucy Rodgers.  Marc Lewis attended as substitute for Gavin Smith.

 

3.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

None.

4.

Minutes of Previous meeting pdf icon PDF 92 KB

Minutes:

Item 1 in the minutes of the last meeting incorrectly recorded Lucy Rodgers as Headteacher of All Saints N20, and Sarah Sands as Headteacher of Colindale. The correction now shows Lucy Rodgers as Headteacher of Colindale, and Sarah Sands as Headteacher of Garden Suburb Infant school.

 

John Bowra requested correction to Item 4, paragraph 2 where incorrect initials were shown.  The corrected item now reads:

‘JB stated he was shown as a Secondary VA Governor on Page 5, but he is a Secondary Academy Governor’.

 

5.

Matters arising

 

 

 

5. Matters arising.

Minutes:

IH reported that he had checked previous minutes, as requested by JD, and could confirm that that the Schools Forum had not voted on how the school improvement grant should be used.

6.

Items for information

 

 

6. Items for information.

6a

2018/19 Budget Monitoring pdf icon PDF 61 KB

Minutes:

GN opened by presenting the outturn position as agreed for period 9. The overall DSG pressure totalled £0.297m; this is largely attributable to overspend pressures within the High Needs (HN) block. GN commented that the Early Years (EY) block budget is expected to underspend which will help improve the position at year end.  However, in the event of an overall overspend, this would be the first call on the 2019/20 budget.

 

 

GN explained the changes to 2018/19 income, and informed members that the High Needs block will receive an additional £0.964m in each of the financial years 2018/19 and 2019/20 as a result of the Secretary of State’s announcement in December 2018.

 

 

It was also confirmed that in addition to this increase in DfE funding, Barnet has received a further £0.108m as a result of higher imported HN pupils than originally advised by the DfE.

 

 

In conclusion, GN sought to reassure Schools Forum by suggesting he believes the final, overall DSG position will come in on budget. It was acknowledged that the budget will continue to require close review and monitoring, and further updates will be provided to members at the next meeting.

7.

Items for decision

 

 

7. Items for decision.

7a

2019/20 Budget proposals pdf icon PDF 111 KB

Minutes:

 

 

a.      The Barnet Schools Budget 2019/20

 

IH clarified that this section required decisions by Schools Forum on recommendations i – iv.  The decisions are needed to enable submission of the Authority Proforma Tool by the deadline of 21 January, confirming Barnet’s formula funding proposals for 2019/20.

 

 

IH explained that, following the announcement that an additional £0.964m HN allocation funding will be received in 2019/20, Barnet council has chosen to withdraw the request submitted to the Secretary of State to transfer 0.5% of the Schools block allocation to the High Needs block.

 

 

IH went on to highlight that now the transfer to the HN block is no longer required, the Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) can be set at 0%, ensuring no school in Barnet will receive less money per pupil in 2019/20 than it did in 2018/19.  To ensure this level of MFG protection is affordable, the cap on gains has been set at 0.5% per pupil for those school gaining from the National Funding Formula.

 

 

Schools Forum needs to agree the funding rates shown in Table 2, the 0% MFG and 0.5% cap as proposed, and also must agree the local criteria applied for growth and split site funding.

 

 

IH then explained the figures shown in Appendices I and II. Appendix I shows the Minimum Funding Guarantee per pupil funding in 2018/19, and shows the top-up or cap value applied to schools in 2019/20 in line with the 0% protection/+0.5% cap proposed.  Appendix II then shows the indicative school level formula funding, the de-delegation (£0.582m) and the £1m de-delegation for Education Functions (former ESG services) which the Secretary of State has now approved. 

 

 

As a result of SoS approval for services formerly funded from the ESG to be charged to the budgets of maintained primary and secondary schools, the modelling shown in Appendices III & IV are no longer relevant.

 

 

ML queried the lump sum value for 2019/20 in the National Funding Formula.  CG confirmed it remains the same as 2018/19 - £120,783.

 

 

KN asked about Dollis Infant and Junior schools being shown as a primary school in the models and asked if the merger had been confirmed.  IH confirmed that the figure was dependent on the final decision following consultation and would be changed to 2 separate schools if the merger does not go ahead.

 

 

SV asked if there were any proposed changes to the hourly funding rate for 2 year olds. CG confirmed that the rate will remain the same as in 2018/19 - £6 per hour.

 

 

SH drew attention to the level of Minimum Funding Guarantee protection applied because of the 0% MFG proposal, with a total cost of £8.666m.  IH replied that the National Funding Formula rates adversely affect the majority of Barnet schools, and the NFF affects London areas more significantly than elsewhere.  Barnet has decided to protect schools by offering a 0% MFG, but the standard MFG under the National Funding Formula would allow schools to lose a maximum of -1.5% per pupil against 2018/19  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7a

7b

Appendix I pdf icon PDF 153 KB

 

 

·         Appendix I. School level baseline calculations and the MFG protection proposed for 2019/20.

 

7c

Appendix II pdf icon PDF 165 KB

 

 

·         Appendix II. School level funding if the Secretary of State approves the proposal to fund £1.000m of services, previously funded from the Education Services Grant.

 

7d

Appendix III pdf icon PDF 149 KB

 

 

·         Appendix III. School level funding based on existing de-delegation, as agreed.

 

7e

Appendix IV pdf icon PDF 167 KB

 

·         Appendix IV. School level funding if Schools Forum agree the proposal for a £0.200m Schools in financial difficulties fund.

 

8.

AOB

 

 

8. Any other business.

Minutes:

The agenda for the next meeting on 28th March will include the following:

 

            2018/19 DSG budget – provisional outturn

 

            2019/20 draft DSG budget – detail by Section 251 level

 

9.

Dates of future meetings

 

 

 

 

Thursday 28th March 2019 (NEW)

 

Tuesday 7th May 2019

 

Thursday 11th July 2019

 

(Venues for future meetings to be confirmed)

Minutes:

4pm. Thursday, 28th March 2019 – NEW (February meeting cancelled)

 

4pm. Tuesday, 7th May 2019

 

4pm. Thursday, 11th July 2019

 

Venues for all meetings to be confirmed.