Issue - meetings

Spending by Primary, Secondary and Special Maintained Schools in 2016/17

Meeting: 26/09/2017 - Children, Education and Families Budget Sub-Committee (Item 24)

24 Spending by Primary, Secondary and Special Maintained Schools in 2016/17 pdf icon PDF 114 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report ED18026

 

The Sub-Committee considered a report which provided information on all revenue and capital balances held by Primary, Secondary and Special Maintained schools as at 31st March 2017, and also provided a comparison to the balances held at the same time in the previous year.

 

The average level of revenue balances both committed and uncommitted for Maintained Primary Schools stood at 10% of School Budget shares compared to 11% at the end of 2015/16.  For Maintained Secondary Schools this figure stood at 10% (compared to 9% in 2015/16) and for Special Schools this figure stood at 7.2% (compared to 7% in 2015/16).  All schools with balances in excess of 8% had been asked to complete a proforma detailing the reason for holding a high balance and their plans for reducing the balance in year.  One primary school had ended the financial year with a deficit and had been asked to provide a deficit recovery plan. 

 

This report had also been considered at the meeting of the Schools’ Forum on 21st September 2017 where it had been resolved to note the report.  The Sub-Committee noted that information relating to Academies would be reported separately.

 

In response to a question form the Chairman surrounding the possible reasons for the high surpluses, the Head of ECHS Finance explained that there were a number of possible reasons, some schools may be being cautious whilst other schools had saved for a specific project.

 

RESOLVED that the financial position of Primary, Secondary and Special Maintained Schools at the end of the 2016/17 financial year be noted.


Meeting: 21/09/2017 - Schools' Forum (Item 9)

9 Spending by Primary, Secondary and Special Maintained Schools in 2016/17 pdf icon PDF 114 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report ED18026

 

The Schools’ Forum considered a report which provided information on all revenue and capital balances held by Primary, Secondary and Special Maintained Schools as at 31st March 2017, and also provided a comparison to the balances held at the same time in the previous year.

 

The average level of revenue balances both committed and uncommitted for Maintained Primary Schools stood at 10% of School Budget shares compared to 11% at the end of 2015/16. For Maintained Secondary Schools this figure stood at 10% (compared to 9% in 2015/16) and for Special Schools this figure stood at 7.2% (compared to 7% in 2015/16).

 

All schools with balances in excess of 8% had been asked to complete a proforma detailing the reason for holding a high balance and their plans for reducing the balance in year. One primary school had ended the financial year with a deficit and had been asked to provide a deficit recovery plan.

 

The Head of ECHS Finance reminded members that the report did not provide spending details for academy schools, and advised that for 2016/17 no schools fell into the categories for which DfE would require further analysis to be undertaken. The Chairman noted that it would be interesting to look back at the report from the previous year to compare whether school expenditure was the same.

 

RESOLVED: that the balances be noted.