Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Aydin Onac, Sam Parrett and Mandy Russell. Lynn Barratt attended in place of Sam Parrett. 

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman stated that the minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd January 2014, which had not yet been confirmed, would be dealt with at the next meeting.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 24^th April 2014 be confirmed, subject to the addition of David Wilcox to the list of those present and the deletion of Alison Regester.

Report EDU15074

At the last meeting Members approved a response to the DfE’s consultation “Fairer Schools Funding 2015/16” which indicated an intention to provide additional funding to those local authorities, such as Bromley, where individual formula funding levels were below the average figures. The outcome of the consultation had not yet been published, but it was anticipated that Bromley would receive approximately £19.1m of additional funding.

The DfE had indicated that the funding should be directed to Schools and proportionately more was likely to go to the primary schools than the secondary schools as in Bromley funding levels for primaries were well below minimum funding levels (MFL) whereas secondary levels were more in line with or above expected levels. Financial modelling had been prepared on the basis of the £19.1m figure, and the report set out five options for consideration prior to local consultation, including tables showing the impact for individual schools. An additional table comparing DfE minimum funding levels with Bromley current funding levels had also been circulated. 

Members considered each of the five options, but considered that only option 1 (which reduced the lump sum to £155k for primary and secondary schools with all other elements funded at the higher of MFL or Bromley funding level) was suitable to take forward to consultation. There was some discussion about whether figures for individual schools should be included or not, but it was considered on balance that this was what many people would be interested in and that this would help to illustrate the real impact of what was proposed.

An alternative model was proposed that indicated that the secondary sector was more under funded per pupil than the primary sector using the MFLs. This model was based on a split by pupil numbers and a  schedule showing this alongside the five options in the report was tabled.  This would need some further modelling by the officers, but did not appear to be incompatible with the DfE’s requirements. The Forum concluded that consultation should take place before the end of term based on option 1 and this alternative model. The outcome of the consultation would then be discussed in September.

RESOLVED that consultation be carried out on the basis of option 1 as set out in the report and the alternative model.

Members received a report on the final outturn position for 2013/14 that had been considered by the Education Budget Sub-Committee on 24^th June 2014. It was noted that there was a carry forward of over £8.9m into 2014/15 from previous years – this was ring-fenced DSG, but Councillors would need to take decisions on how it could be spent, having consulted the Schools Forum.

A question was asked about SEN funding, and whether the authority had looked at the impact on some schools that would lose lots of funding. Officers undertook to investigate if more details could be provided.

The next meeting would be held on Thursday 25^th September 2014 at Bromley College of Further and Higher Education.