Agenda item

a)    2015/16 Budget monitoring

b) 2015/16 Schools budget

c) Applications to become a maintained school

            Menorah High School for Girls

d) Consultation responses

e) Schools Forum training on 30th September 2015

Catherine Peters (CP) presented the Quarter 1 budget summary as shown in the agenda.  This is the most recent position that was presented to the council P&R committee on 2^nd September 2015.  There has been a reduction to income received from the EFA mainly due to fewer 2 year olds than expected, as shown in Appendix 2; expenditure in the Schools Budget and High Needs lines has reduced by the same amount.

CP clarified that the projected outturn is currently an underspend of £99,000, made up mainly by an underspend on top-up funding of £490k, and an overspend on growth.

Val White (VW) presented a report on the current status of the application to join the maintained sector made by Menorah High School for Girls (MHS), and sought the views of Schools Forum on the proposal in order to inform the assessment of the school’s case which takes place before the next meeting of Schools Forum.

This has been a complex application and has included carrying out due diligence by legal services.  An external consultant has also been appointed to work with the school regarding the requirements of maintained sector financial management, and also to assess whether the curriculum offer is appropriate and manageable within the formula funding available.

Barnet has also received confirmation from the EFA that the DSG allocation will be increased in line with MHS pupil numbers if and when the transfer takes place. However, with secondary schools per pupil formula funding is slightly higher than the amount received in DSG.

NT asked if the proposed application was good news for Barnet.  VW commented Barnet was proud of the diversity of its educational offer and that the proposal would extend this diversity. Although located in Brent, the overwhelming proportion of pupils are Barnet residents and should the school close, Barnet would have a duty to offer alternative places to children who wanted one.

SL asked about the admissions criteria and process as the school is currently an independent school, VW advised that the school would be required to follow the Admissions Code and would be part of the Barnet co-ordinated admissions service.

KN asked if the school has to pay staff on Inner London pay scales.  CB confirmed that it does, but that does not mean an increase in formula funding – the school must manage staff costs within the formula funding allocation.  RF asked how the school could join the maintained Barnet sector yet offer Inner London salaries.  VW advised that the school will have greater budget pressures, but there will be no additional formula funding for this; hence the appointment of an external consultant to explore the financial standing  of the school.

Seamus McKenna asked if any other schools had approached Barnet to join the maintained sector.  VW confirmed that Noam Primary has expressed an interest, and Menorah High School for Boys has also made enquiries, although currently they have not attained the required OFSTED grading for this to be considered.

NT & KN commented that Barnet needs to clarify ownership of the site and the condition of the premises.  VW confirmed that due diligence on all site and property issues is being carried out by the legal services team and that the application framework to become a maintained school states that there can be no request for capital investment in the first 5 years after transfer.

SL asked who has covered the cost of processing this application and the legal/ financial advice taken.  VW confirmed that Barnet has covered these costs so far.

Members expressed concern regarding whether such a small secondary school could provide the national curriculum and questioned the viability of the school 6^th form, which currently has very small pupil numbers.  VW advised that these matters will be considered.

VW asked Schools Forum for a summary of their views so that she could factor these into the decision making process, as the application will be progressing before the next Schools Forum meeting.  The Forum indicated that it felt the council should be cautious about the extra financial liability. 

Members expressed concern about Barnet taking on such a small secondary school, the small size of the sixth from and its location in Brent.  They also questioned whether there is any benefit to Barnet children. 

Carol Beckman (CB) provided members with a tabled paper showing the responses to the Schools Formula funding consultation which had closed the previous day, 14^th October 2015. 37 schools had responded, of which 31 expressed a preference for one of the formula funding options proposed.  Seventeen of the 31 schools expressing a preference selected option 3 (+£10 AWPU/ 15% cap on MFG gains) as their first choice, with option 1 the next most popular; option 2 was the least popular, other than the no preference option.

The Schools Forum was therefore asked to give a view on the option to adopt for schools in 2016/17, bearing in mind that the total amount of funding available will remain at 2015/16 levels other than any increase in relation to additional pupils.

Decision: Members agreed that Option 3 was the most popular and should be implemented, but acknowledged that the MFG and cap on gains constrain the authority so tightly that more significant changes cannot be made. Members therefore recommended implementation of Option 3 in the 2016/17 budget planning.

IH advised that a number of members had attended the training session on 30 September which provided an overview of the principles and application of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) and schools funding.

Lesley Burgess (LB) asked if the training had covered issues of High Needs (HN) funding and the HN funding block.  IH said that this was covered, but that the Forum should note that the DfE has issued documents stating that authorities cannot bid for an increase in places as was allowed last year. Place numbers in establishments within the authority could be re-organised but there would be no funding increase. 

Simon Horne (SH) thanked IH and CB for the training provided, and commented that he found the papers provided and the discussions very helpful in increasing his understanding of the DSG and funding system.