Agenda item

To receive and consider the 2021/22 Revenue Monitoring report.

Katherine Vernon, Schools Finance Manager presented the report and stated that a forecast deficit of £9.6m was now being projected, mainly in relation to the HNB, due to the incresed numbers of EHCPs and new starters in the new academic year.

There had been no applications to the De-delegated Contingency fund and information in regard to the Early Year’s Provider Reserve Fund would be known in November and reported to Schools Forum in December.

The Chairman asked that future reports include a column for each of the funds, with the balance that is being carried forward.  The De-delegated and Early Years funds would be in-year balances and for the Schools Block Growth Fund, this would be the brought forward reserves, the in-year allocation and any in-year spend to date.

Piers Brunning, Senior Specialist Strategy and Commissioning (People and Place) made the following points in relation to the Growth Fund:

·           The projected spend on Growth Fund would be significantly higher than anticipated at the time of planning the Budget;

·           There were mid-phase pressures, particularly in relation to primary places.  This was mainly because of the influx of British families moving into the Borough from overseas, particularly from Hong Kong;

·           There were difficulties in relation to mid-phase data which made planning more complicated;

·           There had been a challenge within the secondary sector and the impact of parental preferences.  Very few families had expressed a first preference for the Forest School, and subsequently places had to be offered from the waiting lists (in accordance with admissions law), this had had an impact in the allocation of places for boys;

·           The service was considering the secondary phase issue in planning for next year, and it was hoped that the recent positive Ofsted rating for the Forest would mean that more parents would list the school in their preferences;

·           The secondary phase also faced the issue of mid-phase applications and the Local Authority’s duty to provide a school place;

·           The Chairman asked why there was an overspend of £108K in the primary places, he wished to know the background;

·           Piers Brunning stated that this was to fund additional classes that had not been included in the initial planning;

·           The Chairman asked how many pupils, roughly, the increase in reserves of £318K represented;

·           The Chairman explained that it was important to understand the detail behind the increase from £800K to £1,400m in the Growth Fund;

·           Piers Brunning stated that it was a combination of the potential need to create two extra classes in primary schools and two extra classes in secondary schools.  It was not certain if this provision would be needed from for the remainder of the year or from January;

·           The Chairman asked for clarification if this was a contingency fund;

·           Piers Brunning stated that half of this fund was for places in Years 8 and 9 and the other half was to fund places in Years 5 and 6.  The £150K represented 2 classes for 70 children;

·           The Chairman asked that the report include a paragraph to state that the £300K was in relation to 2 secondary school classes and 2 primary school classes;

·           In relation to the need for 90 additional places for September 2022, Ginny Rhodes asked for information on the funding for these places;

·           Piers Brunning pointed out that there was a consultation on secondary places taking place currently, to identify local needs.  Work was also being undertaken to agree additional capacity with schools;

·           Piers Brunning stated that the Capital Programme was agreed by Council;

·           Piers Brunning suggested that once an action plan was drawn up, that this would be shared in a bulletin with schools.  He emphasized the importance of being transparent and the fact that individual agreements with schools had implications on other schools;

·           Ginny Rhodes expressed concern over the timeline, and added that headteachers needed time to plan for additional places;

·           Sal Thirlway reiterated the point that there was a desire to be transparent and work together with schools, including on the broader strategy;

·           Councillor Margetts expressed concern that the demand for places was likely to increase in the future, and asked for reassurance that this was being planned for;

·           Piers Brunning stated that the current projections predicted a raise and then a fall in demand.  The caveat was that projections were inevitably wrong, as this depended on various factors, including national decisions in relation to house building for example;

·           In response to a question Piers Brunning stated that the strategy to deal with the bulge involved creating some permanent places and some temporary places in schools.  The longer term strategy involved planning to be able to build a new secondary school should the need arise;

·           In response to a comment, Sal Thirlway stated that the current consultation was seeking the views of colleagues, parents, carers and educational experts to shape the strategy;

·           Ben Godber stated that he appreciated the fact that the influx of people arriving from Asia had had an impact on the demand for places, however he believed that the need for additional places had been expected.  He questioned the accuracy of the planning data as it had been badly underestimated.  He pointed out that schools had been asked to take on additional places with very little time for planning;

·           Piers Brunning explained that the strategy that the service was working to was currently out of date, the pandemic had delayed the process of implementation of a new strategy;

·           In response to comments Piers Brunning stated that the Secondary Strategy was going to be built in partnership with the school community;

RESOLVED That:

1)     Revenue Monitoring reports will continue to include the contingencies, and will include information about Growth Fund carry forward, as discussed during the meeting;

2)     The Growth Fund report will include detail around the additional £300K;

3)     A bulletin containing regular updates on place planning would be shared with schools;

4)     Schools Forum would be regularly updated on the progress of the Secondary Strategy; and

5)     The report be noted.