Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Wallasey Town Hall. View directions

Contact: Sue Ashley 

Items
No. Item

429.

Minutes of the meeting held 27th April 2016 pdf icon PDF 90 KB

Minutes:

The minutes from the meeting held on 27th April 2016 were accepted as a true record.

 

430.

Matters arising

Minutes:

Minute 9 – SEND update 

-  There will be a full review of SEND provision

-  This will include a restructure of the service and support

-  And a review of the commissioning of high needs places

-  The exceptional needs panel has met and allocations have been made.  4 schools have been advised that allocations are being revised to take account of school balances.

 

Minute 7 – Early Years Working Group

There was a request for Headteacher representation on the early years working group.

 

Minute 10 – White Paper Early Excellence Everywhere

Since last Forum it has been announced that schools that are good and outstanding will not be forced to convert to an academy.

 

Minute 11 – National Funding Formula for School Update

The second consultation from the DfE has not been published.  It is expected over the summer break.

 

431.

Library Service pdf icon PDF 55 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Catherine McNally and Louise Rice gave an overview of the Schools’ Library Service.  A copy of the service specification given to schools was included in the agenda.  Funding of £192K is currently de-delegated.  The Priorities for 2016-17 are to develop a Service Level Agreement for secondary schools and an enhanced service for nursery, primary and special schools. 

 

Resolved

Forum noted the report

 

432.

Early Years Update pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Minutes:

Carol Fenlon updated Forum on Early Years including:-

·  30 hour extended care from September 2017

-  A bid for capital funding to increase capacity for 3 and 4 year olds.

-  The guidance due from the EFA on early implementer/pilot Local Authorities.

·  Improving take up of the 2 year old offer – uptake has increased to 72% but more work is required.

·  Early Years Pupil Premium – working on an ‘opt out’ scheme to ensure higher uptake.

·  Introduction of an electronic portal which is being piloted with a view to a full roll out by April 2017. The portal will speed up claims for funding and reduce paperwork.

 

Resolved

Forum noted the report

 

433.

Arrangements for Alternative Provision pdf icon PDF 465 KB

Minutes:

Jan Levenson summarised work on the review of AP in Wirral.  The review highlighted difficulties with the current system, such as a lack of co-ordination and sharing of best practice, managing student attendance and safeguarding concerns.  Birkenhead and Wallasey areas have AP services available but other parts of Wirral do not.

The review recommends the creation of a Wirral Guild of Alternative Education.  This will ensure a more co-ordinated and streamline service for young people.  From September 2016 the Guild will introduce:-

·  A common referral process with a single application form

·  Wirral Alternative Education (AE) portal for recording and sharing pupil data

·  Robust procedures for monitoring safeguarding arrangements

·  Quality assurance processes

·  Ensure placements have explicit timescales for intervention and review

Forum requested that the AP review should cover the primary.  Jan Levenson confirmed this work is intended in the autumn term.

 

Resolved

Forum noted the report

 

434.

Contingency and Special Staff Costs pdf icon PDF 77 KB

Minutes:

Sue Ashley summarised the current provision and spend on contingency and special staff costs for maintained schools.  These budgets are currently de-delegated.  It was noted that from 2019 there will be no services de-delegated.  There will be further discussion when more information is available.

 

Resolved

Forum noted the report

 

435.

PFI Formula Update pdf icon PDF 118 KB

Minutes:

Andrew Roberts summarised previous discussions concerning the additional Facilities Management costs of between £400,000 and £600,000 p.a. relating to PFI schools.  The School Formula Working Party proposed 2 consultation papers to seek the views of all the Education sectors regarding:

·  the introduction of a new schools formula element for PFI costs

·  the de-delegation of the PFI affordability gap. 

 

Resolved

·  Forum noted the comments of the working group

·  Forum approved the consultation and questions to schools and providers

·  A final decision will be made at the September meeting

 

436.

School Balances 2015-16 and Future Balance Position pdf icon PDF 65 KB

Minutes:

Sue Ashley advised the Forum of the school balances as at 31st March 2016.  They have increased by £1.2m to £11.7m since last year.  The budgets received for 2016-17 indicate that school balances at 31st March 2017 will be £6.9m reducing to £3.2m at March 2018. The work with schools is ongoing to ensure that budgets are balanced and sustainable for the medium term.

 

Resolved

Forum noted the report

School balances will continue to be monitored.

 

437.

Schools Budget Outturn 2015-16 pdf icon PDF 84 KB

Minutes:

Andrew Roberts outlined the year end position for the 2015-16 Schools budget.  The overspend of £179,600 was met from existing reserves. The total reserves carried forward into 2016-17 were £2.5m, of which £1.6m is a DSG budget reserve.

 

Resolved

Forum noted the report

 

438.

School Budget Monitoring 2016-17 pdf icon PDF 66 KB

Minutes:

Andrew Roberts informed the Forum that there are no variations to report to the Schools Budget in 2016-17 at present.  The Combined Budget provision of £1.7m is likely to be fully committed, but from 2017 will be determined by the EFA.

 

Resolved

Forum noted the report and with the exception of CLC’s and wellbeing the continuing commitments for combined budgets in 2017-18.

 

439.

Forum Working Groups and Membership pdf icon PDF 57 KB

Minutes:

The working group membership was noted.  Headteacher representation will be added to the Early Years Working Group.  Further representation is required for the High Needs group - since the last meeting Ken Frost has resigned from the Forum.  The Funding Formula Working Group will continue to be open to all members.

 

Resolved

Forum noted the report

 

440.

Workplan and Future Dates pdf icon PDF 54 KB

Minutes:

The workplan was provided for information.

 

Please note the dates of the meetings for the next academic year:-

 

Wednesday 28th September 2016

Wednesday 18th January 2017

Wednesday 26th April 2017

Wednesday 5th July 2017

 

441.

Any other business

Minutes:

There was no other business