Issue - meetings

To receive the 2020/21 Central School Services Block report.

Alan Voyzey, Interim Schools Finance Specialist presented the 2020/21 Central School Services Block (CSSB) report.

Alan Voyzey stated that the CSSB was the smallest block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG).  This grant provided a contribution to the total cost of the central statutory services which, in total were approximately £2m.  Appendix A of the report identified the range of services being supported.

Alan Voyzey stated that CSSB allocation for 2020/21 was £936k, this was a reduction of £10k from the previous year’s allocation.  This was a relatively small reduction and the line by line proposals contained in the report reflected that reduction.

Alan Voyzey stated that one of the changes was to Copyright Licences from £129k to £133, an increase of around 3%, this was determined centrally.  The proposal showed a reduction pro-rata in the other services in the region of 1.7% to 5% to account for the reduction in funding.

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

·           Alan Voyzey stated that the reduction in funding did not mean a reduction in service levels, this grant did not fully cover those statutory services, the Local Authority funded the remaining costs;

·           Alan Voyzey stated that the cost of the various licences which were determined nationally and allocated centrally to local authorities had increased by £4k (3%), but the other allocations had in the main been reduced by £14k (1.5%);

·           Lynne Samuel confirmed that this block did not fully funded these services, it was a contribution towards its cost. 

·           Lynne Samuel reported that the School Admissions function had come back in to Children’s Services, as a result the finance team was going to be able to review that team’s budget;

·           Alan Voyzey stated that the government had discontinued the Education Services Grant a few years ago, and that some local authorities had used this grant to deal with historical costs.  This was not the case in Wokingham, but overall there was still a reduction in funding;

·           Ginny Rhodes stated that the school improvement grant (page 29 of the agenda) had not been reported to Schools Forum before and she asked for more information, including the monetary value of this grant.  Lynne Samuel stated that this grant come directly to the Local Authority for it to deliver that function, however, she agreed to include more information about it in future reports.

Officers agreed to bring a report to the next meeting of Schools Forum containing details of the school improvement grant, including its impact on schools.  

RESOLVED That:

1)     The report be noted; and

2)     A report containing details on the school improvement grant will be presented to the next meeting of Schools Forum.