Issue - meetings

Officers presented a report giving details of the indicative allocation for the 2013/14 Dedicated Schools Grant and an outline of how this funding would be allocated and expended across the High Needs, Early Years and Schools Blocks.

The Dedicated Schools Grant allocation for 2013/14 had now been notified to the LA as a total sum of £228,331,776, allocated in three blocks which had been agreed by the LA as follows:

Schools Block  £167,903,853

Early Year Block  £14,560,243

High Needs Block  £45,867,680

Funding for 2012/13 was  £220,809,000 but had increased for 2013/14 due, not only to increased pupil numbers, but also to additional funding which was now being in included in the DSG.  However, this additional funding also brings with it additional expenditure that is now included in the DSG.

At the request of the Chairman, Officers circulated examples of how the calculations would work.

Members asked for clarification on a number of points:

·   Officers circulated a sheet to members showing how the calculation of the MFG works for individual schools (copy attached). Following questions, officers explained how the budge class funding allocated in 2012/13 was excluded from the calculation as it to be allocated outside of the funding formula in 2013/14.

·   DfE had highlighted the issue that the Bromley Primary AWPU funding level is low in comparison to other LAs. Officers clarified that this was due to the fact that funding had been moved out of AWPU in the Primary sector to support the lump sum and the higher levels of funding for the supplements for EAL, deprivation and attainment. It was also confirmed that the Secondary AWPU was in line with other LAs. Officers also reported that the response to DfE also highlighted the issue that Bromley’s DSG was low in comparison to other LAs therefore it was due to this in part that our funding is low.

·   Officers had asked DfE to provide evidence of other LAs funding but DfE were unable to provide this. Officers will endeavour to find supporting evidence on the DfE website in terms of overall DSG allocations. Forum members commented that it may have been helpful to have had more information about the rational for this included in the report as without this the information could be seen as misleading. Officers confirmed that this information had been discussed in detail with the Chair and Vice Chair and had been included in the report  at the specific request of DfE.

·  One Forum Member asked if it was possible to move funding from another funding block to address the low primary AWPU level.  Officers explained that this was possible as the blocks are not ringfenced however it would not actually provide any additional funding to individual schools due to the impact of the MFG.

·  Officers reported that the authority had been invited to meet with the DfE on 13^th February, the purpose of which was to share information on the issues faced by the Local Authority in moving forward with the funding formula.  Officers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30