Agenda item

To receive an update on the work of the High Needs Block Task and Finish Group.

Patricia Davies informed the Forum that the High Needs Block (HNB) Task and Finish Group had held its first meeting.  This meeting had set out the objectives of the group.  The group aimed to put together a recovery plan for the HNB.

Patricia Davies stated that the current system was not reflective of schools’ needs, at the moment not all schools received the same amount of funding.  The implementation of a revised banding system was being considered in order to address this issue.  It was believed that this new system would be fairer and more transparent, enabling resource spaces and special schools to receive more equitable levels of funding.

During the discussion of the item the following comments were made:

·           Members were surprised to find out that not all schools received the same amount of funding;

·           In response to a question Patricia Davies explained that resource spaces received a similar amount of funding, but this was different from the amount received by special schools;

·           Paul Miller stated that part of the work of the Task and Finish Group was to establish the current situation and to propose different, better ways of working;

·           Paul Senior, Interim Director of People Services stated that the current model was not sustainable and not transparent, it needed reviewing and reforming;

·           Paul Senior stated that there needed to be more discipline and an understanding that for every pound overspent, this had to be ‘found’ somewhere else; there were implications on the overspend;

·           Paul Miller stated that Schools Forum had challenged the finance team over this issue for a number of years and asked for a realistic recovery programme to tackle the HNB overspend;

·           Steve Nyakatawa, SEND Consultant had been tasked to carry out a review of HNB and draw up a recovery plan;

·           Councillor Clark stated that she had attended a meeting with the Equality Advisor for the National Education Union, he informed her that the government was going to be lobbied to release more money to cover the HNB overspend.  She stated that out of the 45 Local Authorities that had applied to move money from the Schools Budget into the HNB, 27 were denied, 15 were allowed and some were partially allowed.  It was recognised that the situation was unsustainable;

·           Councillor Clark pointed out that Wokingham was the worse funded unitary authority in the country;

·           Paul Senior stated that being the worse funded authority was not an excuse and it was necessary to ensure the best use of resources;

·           Ginny Rhodes was interested to know more about the resource spaces consultation.  Patricia Davies stated that this consultation had been set up by her predecessor and she recognised that there had been issues with the consultation. However, she assured the Forum that no decisions would be made until all the information had been gathered;

·           In response to a question Paul Senior explained that the funding was not going to be reduced, it was going to be better allocated;

·           Janet Perry believed that this review was long overdue and wondered if this had only happened as a result of the fact that Schools Forum had not agreed to top slice schools budget;

·           Patricia Davies stated that it was hoped that a recovery plan would be in place for the winter;

·           Paul Miller reminded Members that the New Funding Formula would not allow for money to be transferred from one Block Budget to another; and

·           The next meeting of the HNB Task and Finish Group was due to take place after Easter. 

RESOLVED That the verbal update report of the High Needs Block Task and Finish Group be noted.