Agenda item

Following a nationwide consultation the Department for Education have introduced new legislation requiring all local authorities to amend their local Schools Fair Funding Formulae from April 2013. The Executive has the statutory responsibility to approve any amendments to Brent’s Fair Funding Formula following consultation with the Schools Forum. This report sets out recommended amendments to Brent’s Fair Funding Formula for the Executive to consider and approve.

that approval be given to the following:

(i)         the adoption of Model 2 (Appendix C) as the Fair Funding Formula for Brent Schools for 2013/14 with the impact being closely monitored with the Schools forum over the coming year and reviewed again for the 2014/15 financial year;

(ii)        the level of protection to be used for Special Educational Needs (SEN) as set out in Appendix E of the report from the Director of Children and Families;

(iii)       the transfer of £1m from the High Needs Block to the Schools Block to be distributed via the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) for Primary Sector and IDACI and Attainment for Secondary Sector, to be used as a proxy for SEN needs between £6k and £12k;

(iv)       the transfer of £500k from the Schools Block to the Early Years Block for SEN in Early Years;

(v)        to switch the deprivation factor in Early Years from using the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) to using IDACI.

The report before the Executive advised that following a nationwide consultation the Department for Education had introduced new legislation requiring all local authorities to amend their local Schools Fair Funding Formulae from April 2013. Councillor Arnold (Lead Member, Children and Families) drew attention to the short timescale involved in approving Brent Fair Funding Formula for which the Executive had statutory responsibility following consultation with the Schools Forum. In setting the formula key considerations had been to ensure consistency and minimise turbulence as far as possible. No secondary school would lose more than 1.5% per pupil. The Director advised that the Schools Forum was in general support of the proposals but at their meeting the previous week had requested that had additional concerns expressed be brought to members’ attention. These were circulated separately in advance of the meeting. Councillor Arnold advised that the Funding Formula would be kept under review.

Arnold Meagher (Legal and Procurement) advised that specific equalities issues, such as special educational needs and deprivation, were referred to throughout the report and the Executive would need to give due regard to equal opportunities implications.

The Executive noted the comments and agreed the recommendations in the Director’s report.

RESOLVED:-

that approval be given to the following:

(i)         the adoption of Model 2 (Appendix C) as the Fair Funding Formula for Brent Schools for 2013/14 with the impact being closely monitored with the Schools forum over the coming year and reviewed again for the 2014/15 financial year;

(ii)        the level of protection to be used for Special Educational Needs (SEN) as set out in Appendix E of the report from the Director of Children and Families;

(iii)       the transfer of £1m from the High Needs Block to the Schools Block to be distributed via the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) for Primary Sector and IDACI and Attainment for Secondary Sector, to be used as a proxy for SEN needs between £6k and £12k;

(iv)       the transfer of £500k from the Schools Block to the Early Years Block for SEN in Early Years;

(v)        to switch the deprivation factor in Early Years from using the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) to using IDACI.