Apologies for absence were received from Martin Flowers and Andrew Fowler.

The Forum is asked to approve as a correct record the minutes of the last meeting held on 9 December 2021

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 December 2021 were agreed as a correct record.

Matters Arising

Page 4, item 3 - Financial Difficulty Funding – the point was made that although the rules do not preclude the use of DSG reserves to support schools in financial difficulty, a comment was made that the process cannot be applied fairly to academies thus breaching different regulations.

It was confirmed that the matter is currently being looked at by officers in the legal department and Schools Forum will be informed of its findings on this issue.

Carole Smith – Digital and Resources

The Forum was informed that the funding settlement was received on 16 December 2021. There has been an increase of 17p per hour for 3 and 4 year olds and an increase of 21p per hour for 2 year old funding.  In addition the funding rate for EYPP has increased, as has the Disability Access Funding.

There has been an expected cut in the Central Schools Services Block (CSSB) and it was noted that the additional funding for centrally Employed Teachers (CET) is now included in the CSSB unit of funding.

In terms of the Schools Block it was confirmed that this has increased by over £4m.

In relation to the High Needs Block, basic entitlement has stayed the same as last year but there is an increase of £2.8m.

It was also noted in the settlement that there will be an additional grant allocated to schools to cover the additional costs of the increased in national insurance contributions.

RESOLVED    -           That the Schools Forum noted;

·        The estimated Early Years Block

·        The Central Schools Services Block

·        The Schools Block

·        The High Needs Block allocation

·        The other grant information

Carole Smith, Digital and Resources

The Forum received a report on the proposed Authority Proforma Tool (APT) which was received on 20 December 2021.

The Schools Block allocation of funding for 2022/23 is £128.558m, calculated through Primary and Secondary Pupil numbers, including plus £4.348m for premises factors and £626,000 for growth funding. This is an increase on last year of £4.042m.

A number of funding pressures were highlighted; increase in Key Stage 3 and 4 pupils and a decrease in primary pupils, significant increases in FSM pupils and mobile pupils. There is also funding pressures with the inclusion of XP Gateshead in the APT for the first time and the requirement to adjust its pupil numbers to reflect that it is a new and growing school.

A number of different models were discussed and it was proposed that the model base on MFG at 1.31% without any capping and scaling was approved.

The Forum thanked officers for providing clarity on the proposed model.

RESOLVED    -           That the Schools Forum approved the factor values, MFG and

growth fund in appendix 1 of the report and noted the information in appendix 2 and 3.

Carole Smith – Digital and Resources

The Forum received a report requesting Schools Forum to approve centrally retaining the former retained duties element of the Education Services Grant (ESG) which was mainstreamed into the DSG in 2017.

It was noted that the former ESG retained duties funding rate is a flat rate of £15 per pupil.

It was suggested that this could be done through de-delegation through traded services, as it was suggested that this is the case in other authority areas.  It was confirmed however that when ESG ceased Gateshead chose not to request de-delegation for the previously funded areas. The former retained duties element of £15 per pupil was put in the CSSB and this has been agreed by the Forum ever since.

It was requested that further clarity as to the original decision be brought back to the Forum before a decision be made on this issue.

RESOLVED    -           That further information be brought back to the Forum before

approval of centrally retaining of funding allocation for retained duties can be made.

The Schools Forum accepted the resignation of Andy Ramanandi, representing maintained Primary Headteachers, as St Joseph’s Blaydon will convert to an Academy from 1 February 2022.

The Chair thanked Andy for his invaluable input into the work of the Forum.

Thursday 10 February 2021 at 2.00pm

The next meeting will be held on Thursday 10 February 2022 at 2.00pm.