Agenda item

To consider the Growth Fund projection and outturn, including a request to carry forward a deficit from 2017/18.

The Forum considered the Growth Fund report which was set out in agenda pages 55-60.  Piers Brunning, Strategy and Commissioning (People and Place) Senior Specialist presented the report.

Piers Brunning stated that the report contained information on the data activity of last year.  He stated that the carry forward deficit of £81k was the consequence of costs arising from commitments for the 2016/17 financial year that were met in the 2017/18 year.  These were identified late in the 2017/18 year and had not been included in the expected outturn figures.

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

·           Janet Perry asked why Bohunt School had increased its Published Admission Number (PAN) from 180 to 240 and how the school was funded;

·           Piers Brunning explained how Bohunt was funded:

o   As a new Free School the Bohunt Wokingham School is funded for the pupils on roll through estimated rolls (rather than lagged funding). This means the annual payments to the school from the DfE are based on the funding formula, but using the estimated roll for the new intake, rather than the historic roll. The DfE can later adjust the payment, if the actual roll is less than the estimated roll. This is known as clawback. There is a mechanism to enable the council to guarantee funding based on the estimated roll, even if the actual roll is less, where the council has given a guarantee as part of the package to ensure the school is viable.

o   The Growth Fund pays for two things. Firstly, diseconomy funding, provided because the formulaic arrangements, being largely pupil led, do not generate sufficient funds to enable a new school to pay for sufficiently senior staff during the start up phase. This is based on the number of unfilled year groups (so the number of children admitted does not affect this payment).  It is paid on a sliding scale, starting with £125,000 reducing through £93,000, £62,000 to  £31,000 over a four year period (for secondary schools).

o   The second element is for new class start up costs. While furniture and equipment are capitalised (so not funded through the Growth Fund) and formulaic funding will cover consumables, new classes will require access to revenue funded teaching resources (e.g. text books). In future the replacement of these items will be funded from formulaic funding, but using a multi, not single year cycle. This is £500 per new secondary school place.

·           Piers Brunning stated that where the Council has agreed that an existing school should expand, the estimated roll cannot be used to fund the school. In this instance the costs of the new class have to be met from the Growth Fund, until formulaic funding is available.

·           Piers Brunning stated that Bohunt was allowed to increase its own PAN, and informed that the school was fully allocated for Year 7 starting in September and was likely to continue to be fully allocated going forward;

·           Piers Brunning pointed out that the funding for new schools was different from the funding for expanding existing schools;

·           Piers Brunning stated that Bohunt was antecipating funding in the future to build a sixth form.  However, this was unlikely because it was believed to be sufficient capacity in sixth forms at other schools within the Borough;

·           Piers Brunning stated that with all the new developments in the Borough, the Council was required to plan for future sufficiency of school places;

·           In response to a question Coral Miller stated that if Schools Forum did not agree to the £81k carry forward, this would increase the pressure on the Council; if Schools Forum agreed, it would be possible to absorb the carried forward £81k within the 2018/19 Budget and she was confident that there would not be any additional requests to carry forward;

·           In response to a question Coral Miller stated that there was a set of criteria to be distribute this money to schools;

·           In response to a question Coral Miller stated that the regulations allowed for Schools Forum to authorize a carry forward for Growth Fund;

·           Piers Brunning informed that Shinfield West and Matthews Green were on target to be opened in 2019.

Upon being put to the vote, Schools Forum decided not to agree to the carrying forward the £81k Growth Fund overspend.

RESOLVED That:

1)     Schools Forum does not approve the overspend of £81k to be carried forward to 2018/19; and

2)     The Growth Fund update be noted.