Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Nisha Lingham (Nursery Maintained Head) and Brian Grady with the Forum advised that Jen Haskew (Interim Head of Setting and School Effectiveness) would be attending in his place.

In response to the request for an update on outstanding membership vacancies James Kinsella (Governance Team) advised that plans were being progressed to undertake a further round of elections in an attempt to fill the remaining membership vacancies on the Forum.

None.

None.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 11 November 2021 as a correct record.

It was RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 11^th November 2021 as a correct record.

To consider any actions arising from previous meetings.

Action 81 – Dedicated Schools Grant High Needs Block Management Plan Update

Olufunke Adediran, Head of Finance at Brent Council, confirmed that an update on progress against the High Needs Block Deficit Management Plan was due to be provided at the next Schools Forum meeting on 17 February 2022.

At this stage in proceedings the Forum agreed to receive an update from Gail Tolley (Strategic Director, Children & Young People) under Any Other Urgent Business on the outcome of a recent consultation undertaken by the Department for Education (DfE) regarding the future School Monitoring and Brokering grant.

The Forum noted the following key points as part of the update provided:

·                The use of the grant by the local authority to contribute towards the management and functions provided by the School Effectiveness Team to support collaborative working with all Brent schools regardless of maintained or academy status, which had been especially valued as part of the response provided on the pandemic.

·                In 2020 the DfE had started discussions with regard to eventually removing the grant, based on the view that it should only be available to support maintained schools.  This was not a view supported by Brent with the Strategic School Effectiveness Partnership Board supporting the case made to retain the grant, however the DfE had chosen to proceed with their consultation on removal of the grant and despite significant challenge and clear opposition (including from Brent) they had decided to push ahead with their proposals involving a 50% reduction in the grant for 2022/23 and its complete removal by 2023/24 with the DfE supportive of the growth in school led approaches towards school improvement focussed around the approach involving Multi Academy Trusts and funding arrangements becoming more like Academy Trust top slicing with de-delegation as the method to provide improvement funding for maintained schools.

·                Given the limited notice and time provided to plan for this grant reduction, work had been ongoing with the Council’s Finance Team to assess the impact and as a result it had been agreed to offset the reduction for 2022/23 funded from within the Council’s General Fund, which totalled £109k.  As a result there would be no requirement to seek any de-delegation from the Dedicated Schools Grant for this purpose in 2022/23.

·                The approach had also been designed to enable a more detailed review to be undertaken in relation to the future delivery and provision of school improvement work linked to the proposals to be outlined within the expected Education White Paper and SEND Review Green Paper.  It was felt this reflected the need to develop a more joined up and collective approach in terms of the configuration and future arrangements for funding and delivering school improvement, involving both the Forum and Strategic School Effectiveness Partnership Board.

Having thanked Gail Tolley for her update and the efforts made to secure funding for 2022/23 the Forum were keen to explore details on the possible funding arrangements beyond 2023/24.  In response Gail Tolley advised that detailed guidance was still awaited on how the funding arrangements would be expected to operate although it was felt the DfE had now established a clear direction of travel.  Given the need to await further guidance the position would, however, need to be kept under review in order to develop (following publication of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

This report sets out the proposed DSG Schools Budget for consultation and agreement by Schools Forum ahead of the Council budget being set and approved by full Council.

Olufunke Adediran, Head of Finance at Brent Council, introduced the report providing an update on the proposed DSG Schools Budget for 2022/2023.

In presenting the report the key points highlighted included:

·                The final DSG block funding allocations had been announced in December 2021. Following the 2021 Spending Review, the government had announced that it would provide a Schools Supplementary Grant of £1.2bn, in addition to the DSG for mainstream schools.  It had been estimated that Brent would receive £6.9m of this grant with school-level allocations to be published in Spring 2022. The grant would be available to primary, secondary, maintained nursery schools and Post 16 provisions to support cost pressures in respect of the 1.25% Health and Social Care Levy (Increased National Insurance Contributions) that would take effect from 2022/23 and other wider cost pressures.  In addition the government had also announced an additional £325m in 2022/23 for Special Schools and other providers funded from the High Needs Block (HNB) through a top up of the HNB DSG.  This represented an increase of 4% to the High Needs allocations announced in July 2021 with Brent estimated to receive an additional £2.9m as a result.

·                The breakdown of the 2022/23 Brent DSG Funding Allocations, as detailed in section 3 and Table 1 of the report.  The increase in relation to the Schools Block totalled £2.025m with an increase of £5.5m in relation to the HNB allocation compared to 2021/2022. Whilst this represented an increase of 8.3% the Forum noted that the 2021/22 HNB expenditure budget was currently forecast to spend £71.5m. This was inclusive of £7.6m recouped for Brent pupils with high needs placed in other local authorities, however given the continued increase in the number of children with Education, Health and Care plans (EHCPs) the Forum was also being asked to approve, in addition to the measures outlined in the DSG deficit recovery plan, the recommended transfer of 0.5% from the Schools Block to the HNB to mitigate the growing demand.  This would equate to a transfer of £1.2m bringing the HNB budget to £73.1m with members noting that a more detailed breakdown of the HNB budget would be presented to Schools Forum in February 2022.

·                The Early Years Block allocations had also been published in December 2021, with detailed provided in section 3.7 of the report.  The Forum were advised that whilst funding had increased under the Early Years National Funding Formula for Early Years Provision at a per pupil level, there had been a reduction in overall funding of £1.4m mainly due to a decrease in children requiring early years provision, following repeated lockdowns from March 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic with a separate report having been provided for consideration by the Forum on the agenda.

·                In terms of the Central Schools Services Block funding the Forum was advised this had been confirmed at £2.1m.  This included funding for ongoing responsibilities as well as funding for historic pension costs for centrally employed teachers.  The allocation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

This report confirms the provisional Early Years Block DSG funding for Brent, in order for the local Early Years Funding Formula to be set for 2022/23.

Folake Olufeko, Senior Finance Analyst at Brent Council introduced the report which outlined the provisional Early Years Block DSG funding allocation for Brent as supported by the Early Years Funding subgroup.

In presenting the report key points highlighted included:

·                The increases to the funding rates allocated to Brent for 2-year-old, and 3 and 4-year-old provision, however, overall funding allocations had reduced due to a reduction in demand for Early Years Provision since January 2020 as a result of the restrictions introduced due to Covid 19.

·                The increased funding provided in relation to the EYNFF hourly rate for 3 and 4 year olds, as detailed within section 4 and Table 1 of the report.  In terms of 3 and 4 year old funding it was proposed that this would be distributed to providers as a universal base hourly rate plus an additional allocation for deprivation; after the 5% reduction for central resources, on the basis of the details within section 5 of the report.  The Forum also noted, in relation to the provision of funding supplements that the maximum 10% allowable had been applied in relation to deprivation.

·                The DfE provisional funding estimates for 2 year old funding had been based on the January 2021 census data with confirmation provided that the actual  funding allocation for 2022/23 had reduced in line with a 6% reduction in take up hours experienced between January 2020 and January 2021 as a result of the impact from the pandemic. Take-up numbers for both the 2 year old and the 3 & 4 year old entitlements had, however, since increased from January 2021 and were now at 90% of the pre-Covid- pandemic levels, based on headcounts as at November 2021. It was therefore anticipated that these increased numbers would be reflected in the final allocation for 2022/23, which would be based on the January 2022 census.

·                With regard to centrally retained funding the DfE guidelines mandated  local authorities to pass through 95% of the Early Years funding for 3 and 4 years olds to providers, however no mandate existed on  how much of the 2 year old funding local authorities could retain for central services.  It had therefore been recommended that 5% of Early Years funding for 3 and 4 year olds was retained in 2022/23.  This would equate to £0.911m, compared to a £0.937m equivalent in 2021/22; a reduction of £0.026m on the previous financial year.  In terms of the 2 year old rate, it was proposed to retain £0.13p of the increase to the 2 year old rate (£59k compared to £25k which was retained in 2021/22), as a contribution towards the provision of central services to support the sector.  This allocation would ensure continued delivery of the training offer which had been acknowledged by the Early Years Funding subgroup as a required service and was valued by providers, as well as other key central support provisions.  The Forum noted this would bring the total budget allocation for central services in 2022/23 to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Urgent Business Update on Local Authority School Improvement Monitoring and Brokering Grant

          Dedicated Schools Grant / Age Weighted Pupil Unit Funding Lobbying Query

Andy Prindiville, (Headteacher– Secondary Academy member)shared with the Forum that he had been approached by a representative of the London Borough of Harrow Schools Forum with a request seeking support from Brent Schools Forum regarding lobbying they had agreed to undertake of the DfE for an increase in the Primary school AWPU funding to bring it in line with the Secondary School funding levels.

Whilst supportive of ongoing lobbying opportunities, particularly in relation to the move towards the National Funding Formula the Forum, in considering the request felt there was a need to seek further detail on the proposal and the basis on which it had been agreed by the Schools Forum in Harrow.  Gail Tolley (Strategic Director Children & Young People) also advised that given the potential impact there would also be a need for a broader consultation with schools in advance of support being expressed for any such approach.

As a result it was AGREED that Andy Prindiville made contact with Harrow’s School Forum to seek clarification of their proposal, with any further details obtained then shared at the next Schools Forum so members could make a more informed decision as to how they wished to proceed.

          Capital Works – School building repairs

In response to a query regarding the funding of building repairs for maintained schools members were reminded that as these type of works formed part of the schools capital programme they did not fall within the Forum’s remit and would need to be raised as part of the normal process for seeking access to the capital works programme.

In terms of future meetings, the Chair advised that whilst willing to accept items of any other business the preference would be for advance notice to be provided, whenever possible, in order to enable the necessary response to be prepared for the meeting.

The Forum noted the next meeting date as Thursday 17 February 2022 at 6pm.

The meeting closed at 7:00 pm

M HEISER

Chair