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Councillors and committees

Agenda and minutes

Venue: held virtually via Microsoft Teams

Contact: Rosalyn Patterson - email:  rosalynpatterson@gateshead.gov.uk 

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Elaine Pickering, Martin Flowers, Ethel Mills and Cllr Gary Haley.

2.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 223 KB

The Forum is asked to approve as a correct record the minutes of the last meeting held on X

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 1 October 2020 were agreed as a correct record subject to Paul Harris being noted as present at the meeting and the following amendment being made;

 

Item 6 – Mainstream Schools Funding

The following bullet points to be included in the third paragraph of this minute;

 

‘The funding aims were outlined as;

·        Ongoing transition to a National Funding Formula

·        Maximising MFG’

3.

Mainstream Schools Funding Review pdf icon PDF 561 KB

Carole Smith – Resources and Digital

Minutes:

The Forum received a report on the second meeting of the Mainstream School Funding sub-group which met on 12 October. The sub-group discussed further modelling, increasing secondary free school meal ever6 factor to £41 about the NFF and primary mobility to £300 above the NFF.

 

The modelling showed this to be adverse to a small number of primary schools with high mobility and therefore would be funded at a higher rate. With these increases and the positive MFG, the formula was unaffordable.

 

The guiding principles are set for when the figures are received.

 

RESOLVED    -           That the Schools Forum noted the information contained in the

report and the appendices.

4.

Growth Fund pdf icon PDF 258 KB

Carole Smith – Resources and Digital

Minutes:

The Forum received the draft update Growth Fund Procedure for approval.

 

It was noted that the procedure was previously not fit for purpose for secondaries and therefore it has been simplified to support schools with significant in-year growth which is not immediately recognised by the lagged funding system.

 

The point was made that including intake of pupils from other Local Authorities would be unfair to include as this is out of school’s control and is not part of the admission criteria, therefor disadvantaging some schools.

 

It was agreed to remove reference to ‘children moving as a result of parental preference…on a non-standard date’ as intake and PAN at the start of the year was felt to be fair.

 

RESOLVED  - 

(i)

That Schools Forum reviewed the draft update Growth Fund procedure and agreed the suggested changes set out above.

 

(ii)

That the Schools Forum approved the procedure, subject to the agreed changes, and approved the procedure to be sent to the DfE for compliance checking.

 

(iii)

That Schools Forum agreed that payment of growth funding be retained locally to enable maximum flexibility.

 

 

5.

Directed Revisions and Updates to Gateshead's Scheme for Financing Schools and Proposed consultation document pdf icon PDF 183 KB

Carole Smith – Resources and Digital

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Forum received a report on the directed revisions to Gateshead’s Scheme for Financing Schools.

 

All maintained schools will be consulted on the proposed amendments.

 

Discussion was held around redundancy and retirement costs and it was noted that this would be from the Local Authority budget, not the DSG.

 

RESOLVED    -           That the Forum reviewed the changes to the Scheme for

Financing Schools and agreed for it to be sent out to all maintained schools for consultation.

6.

Dedicated Schools Grant - Quarter 2 Monitoring pdf icon PDF 434 KB

Claire Reid – Resources and Digital

Minutes:

A report was received on the quarter two projected outturn position of DSG for 2020/21.

 

As previously reported the DSG budget remains unchanged at £105.673m. The projected outturn for the year was £104.851m, an underspend of £822,000, which is a movement of £79,000 since quarter one.

 

Uplift funding for Early Years is being worked through and it is likely there will be some addition spend so the Early Years position will change.

 

DSG reserves at 31 March 2020 was £1.212m and the forecast is that this will increase to £1.836m at 31 March 2021.

 

RESOLVED    -           That the Schools Forum noted the report.

7.

Date and Time of Next Meeting

10 December at 2.00pm

Minutes:

The next meeting will be held at 2pm on 10 December 2020.

 

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