Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

Councillor Suzy Horton declared a personal interest as she is Vice Chair of governors at Craneswater Junior School.

Purpose of report to:

a.  Seek endorsement for the final stage submission to the Education Funding Agency (EFA) by the 19 January, of the 2018-19 mainstream school revenue funding pro-forma for the Primary and Secondary phases.

b.  Inform Cabinet Member of the initial determination of the schools budget (including the individual schools budgets) for 2018-19 and to seek the necessary approvals and endorsements required.

RECOMMENDED that the Cabinet Member:

a.     Approve the proposed changes to the mainstream schools revenue funding formula as set out in section 6.

b.     Approve the school revenue funding pro-forma at Appendix 7 for submission to the EFA on the 19 January 2018.

c.     Approve the determination of the 2018-19 schools budget (including the individual schools budgets) shown at Appendix 1, together with the supporting explanations contained within this report.

d.     Approve the 2018-19 Element 3 Top-up rates for the Resourced Units and Alternative Provision settings as set out in Appendix 5.

e.     Approve the decision that any carry-forward balances from 2017-18 be used to assist with the continued introduction of the funding reform changes and fund any potential financial pressures arising during 2018-19.

f.       Approve the local funding arrangements in respect of the 2, 3 and 4 year old early years provision for 2018-19; which will comply with the requirements of both the regulations and the operational guide.

g.     Endorse the amount of the growth fund for 2018-19 at £342,600.

h.     Note the submission of the disapplication request to the DfE with regards to the University Technical College, as set out in paragraph 6.13.

i.       Note the de-delegated unit values for 2018-19 as shown at Appendix 3.

(TAKE IN REPORT)

The report was introduced by Beverley Pennekett, Interim Finance Manager. She explained that some late information had been received on Friday afternoon from the DfE, revising the pupil datasets in respect of free school meal eligibility.  As a result, the expected level of funding was not now being distributed to schools and officers were proposing some changes to the recommendations.  This report was also due to be considered by the Schools Forum on Wednesday. 

The Interim Finance Manager explained that as a result of re-running the data, an additional £59,400 had become available for distribution.  There were three proposals of what this money could be used for, which she outlined.   The Interim Finance Manager added that the Cabinet Member may wish to discuss this with the Schools Forum at their meeting this week to get an indication of preference but this would need to come back to the Cabinet Member for the final decision.

The Cabinet Member said in light of the amended information she thought it would be most sensible for the Schools Forum to consider the three options at their meeting on Wednesday.  Following that meeting a special Education Cabinet meeting would be scheduled for the Cabinet Member to make the final decision. 

Councillor Hockaday thanked officers for all their hard work in preparing this report especially as the information from the DfE had been received late in the day.

The Cabinet Member:

a.     Following late publication of revised pupil data invited Schools Forum to indicate whether they wish to:

                        i.      Increase the primary IDACI Bands E and F factors by an amount to be determined, thus moving the Portsmouth funding formula towards the National Funding Formula.

                       ii.      Increase the primary free school meals factor by an amount to be determined, thus increasing funding available to deprived schools which is contrary to the National Funding Formula.

                     iii.      Increase the growth fund by £59,400 from £342,600 to £402,000, providing greater flexibility to support in-year growth to mainstream schools who meet the growth fund criteria but who have not been identified at the time of setting the budget.  *

b.  Approved the determination of the 2018-19 schools budget (including the individual schools budgets) shown at Appendix 1, together with the supporting explanations contained within this report.

c.  Approved the 2018-19 Element 3 Top-up rates for the Resourced Units and Alternative Provision settings as set out in Appendix 5.

d.  Approved the decision that any carry-forward balances from 2017-18 be used to assist with the continued introduction of the funding reform changes and fund any potential financial pressures arising during 2018-19.

e.  Approved the local funding arrangements in respect of the 2, 3 and 4 year old early years provision for 2018-19; which will comply with the requirements of both the regulations and the operational guide.

f.    Noted the submission of the disapplication request to the DfE with regards to the University Technical College, as set out in paragraph 6.13.

g.      Noted the de-delegated unit values for 2018-19  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Purpose of report    

To seek approval to commence the statutory process to change the age range of Willows Centre for Children from 2 - 5 year old pupils to 2 - 7 year old pupils. This will allow the school to provide specialist education for up to 18 year 1 pupils with an appropriate Education Health & Childcare Plan (EHCP).           

RECOMMENDED that the Cabinet Member authorises the Director of Children, Families and Education to proceed to the representation stage of the statutory process by publishing a proposal to change the age range of Willows Centre for Children School and Nursery to 2 - 7 years.

(TAKE IN REPORT)

The report was introduced by Caroline Corcoran, Head of Sufficiency, Participation and Resources.  She advised a report on the outcome of the consultation would be brought to the March 2018 Education Cabinet.

Councillor Horton said the decisions on the high needs were sensible but were short term and SEN are growing year on year perhaps other strategies are needed.  The Cabinet Member and Mike Stoneman advised that a SEND strategic review is taking place by the Head of Inclusion's team and it was anticipated this review would be completed by the end of March.   The Director of Children, Families and Education added that there are a number of risks that the council need to assess in relation to this and the paper refers to one of the mitigating strategies on the high needs block being the remodelling of current specialist provision in the city.  This depends on investment decisions that have not been taken yet and if the council is unable to do the remodelling the risk of pressure on the high needs block will increase.

The Cabinet Member said this change was necessary and was happy to authorise the proposal to proceed to the representation stage.

DECISION:

The Cabinet Member authorised the Director of Children, Families and Education to proceed to the representation stage of the statutory process by publishing proposals to change the age range of Willow Centre for Children School and Nursery to 2-7 years.