Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Kath Duffy (Pre-School Learning Alliance), Hazel Danson (NEU – NUT section), Julie Helm (Nursery Schools), Anne Lawton (Special Schools), Marcus Newby (Primary Heads), Jo-Anne Sanders (Service Director – Learning & Early Support) and Jenny Shore (Primary Heads).

The minutes were agreed to be a true record of the meeting.

Nothing was raised.

KELPB members

Notes from the E & LPB meeting held on 13th February were circulated.

Gerald Hay, the chief executive of Calderdale & Kirklees Careers, attended to provide details of what the service offers to schools, colleges, the local authority and local employers. Keith Henshall, Head of Health Improvement from Public Health attended to help the Board consider an alternative approach to the distribution of the £360k of capital funding available in the Healthy Pupil Capital Fund. Harkireet Sohel and Emma Brayford led an interactive session on local education outcomes. The Director for Children’s Services will be developing a five year learning improvement strategy alongside the E & LPB and relevant portfolio holders for publication next term. Mandy Cameron updated the Board on the forthcoming peer review of SEND arrangements. An update on the Early Support launch was given by Michelle Wheatcroft, Head of Service, Early Support.

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The next E & LPB meeting is set for Wednesday 13th March when the agenda will include an item on the 2021 SATS process which coincides with Eid and updates on both the Apprenticeship Levy and the Learning Strategy.

Concerns were expressed about the latest thinking on how to distribute the Healthy Pupil Capital Fund – the E & LPB notes mention a £40k allocation for each of nine hub areas with each hub collective to propose a small number of projects per collective to maximise the local impact of the funding. Dividing money amongst the hubs was viewed as problematic by some around the table – the hubs are uneven in terms of the numbers of pupils covered by each so an equal division does not make sense. The presence of academies within the hubs was also raised as an issue as they will already have received a direct HPCF allocation. A working group is still looking at this with a view to pulling together guidance proposals to present to the Schools Forum and the Integrated Commissioning Group.

David Gearing

The 2019-20 Dedicated Schools Grant settlement

Details of the 2019-20 Dedicated Schools Grant settlement for Kirklees and how it compares to the previous funding year were presented to the meeting.

a)         Schools Block

The Schools funding block has increased from £287.3m in 2018-19 to £293.5m for 2019-20, a rise of around £6.2m. This increase is a combination of an overall rise in the number of pupils being educated in Kirklees and the effect of a second 0.5% minimum increase in per pupil funding. [This second 0.5% per pupil increase is actually expressed as a 1% rise on 2017-18 individual school per pupil baselines].

b)        Growth provision in the Schools Block

The new formula-based method for including an element of funding for future pupil growth within the settlement has provided more growth funding to Kirklees than before – an increase from £1.07m in 2018-19 to £1.76m in 2019-20. The majority of these funds, it is proposed, will be committed to the continued operation of a Pupil Growth Fund (£600k) and to include estimates within the funding submission of the next new year group intake at September 2019 for those new school provisions which are still adding a year group from the start of each academic year. It is also proposed that the new element of growth funding (£698,500) is retained centrally.

c)         Central Schools Services Block

Kirklees’ CSSB allocation has fallen slightly in comparison to last year – from £2.34m in 2018-19 to £2.30m in 2019-20. This is in line with the transitional path to Kirklees’ eventual national funding formula outcome for the CSSB, although the drop has been mitigated slightly by an overall rise in pupil numbers. The allocation still includes a separate sum of £170,400 in respect of historic ongoing teacher pension costs taken on by the DSG.

d)        Early Years Block 

Kirklees’ Early Years Block funding has fallen from £28.70m in 2018-19 to £28.09m for 2019-20. There has been a fall between years in the numbers of 3 and 4 year old children accessing the universal 15 hours of free nursery entitlement and also in the numbers of disadvantaged two year olds accessing the same entitlement, with a knock-on effect on the amount of early years pupil premium received. On the plus side, the number of children accessing the extended offer to 30 hours per week has increased and there have been modest increases too to the Early Years Disability Access funding and to the maintained nursery school supplement figure (in respect of Flatts Nursery School).

e)         High Needs Block

The starting position for the High Needs Block allocation to Kirklees has increased to £36.99m for 2019-20 from £34.78m in 2018-19. The NFF outcome for Kirklees’ High Needs Block promised to deliver an annual increase of around £1m each year starting from 2017-18 onwards for a period of seven years. However, the Secretary of State for Education recently announced additional high needs funding for both 2018-19 and 2019-20. In each of these years Kirklees will receive an additional  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

David Gearing

The response to the recent consultation on budget retention proposals for 2019-20 had been disappointing, with only three formal responses received. One primary school representative reported that ‘soundings’ had been taken at a recent head teachers meeting which revealed no interest in making changes to what had been proposed. There is no evident mandate for making any changes for FY 2019-20 so Forum was asked to approve the proposals as drafted for 2019-20. The following tables show the pattern of budget retention and de-delegation agreed.

Central School Services Block 2019-20

 ‘Growth’ funding within the Schools Block 2019-20

Funding retained within the Early Years Block 2019-20

De-delegation 2019-20 (maintained mainstream schools only)

School Funding 2019-20 Cabinet Report

It was reported that the recommendations in the 2019-20 report to Cabinet on school funding had been approved at their meeting of 29^th January 2019. 

No other business was raised.

Friday 28^th June 2019, 10:00am Venue: Tolson Museum

Friday 28th June 2019        Venue: Tolson Museum     Start: 10:00am