Agenda item

Joint Report of the County Treasurer and Chief Officer for Children’s Services (CT/17/7) on the proposed transfer funding between elements of the Dedicated Schools Grant, attached.

(Councillors Connett, Greenslade, Hannan, Julian and Owen attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item).

(Councillor Parsons declared a personal interest in this matter by virtue of being a parent of child in care).

The Cabinet considered the Joint Report of the County Treasurer and Chief Officer for Children’s Services (CT/17/7)on the proposed transfer of funding between elements of the Dedicated Schools Grant.

High Needs expenditure was part of the ring fenced Dedicated Schools Grant and had grown rapidly (from £53,000,000 in 2014 to an estimated £61,000,000 in 2017/18): a situation experienced by a number of other low funded authorities. Additional funding had been added to High Needs (as well as action taken to restrain and control expenditure) with a significant increase of £16,000,000 in 2015/16 consequent upon the introduction of the ‘Fairer Schools Funding’ arrangements of which £14,000,000 had been allocated to individual school budgets. 

Members noted that  in recent months a significant forecast overspending on High Needs had emerged with an estimated overspend in the current year of £4,300,000.  Members further noted that in October of 2016 consultations had been undertaken with Devon schools on a proposal to transfer funding of up to £4,500,000 from the Schools Block in 2017/18 allocations, to meet the expected level of expenditure in High Needs.  Only 66 schools responded to that consultation of which 50 had opposed the transfer. The Devon Education Forum  had also discussed the proposal at its meeting on 19 October 2016 and opposed the proposed transfer.

The Cabinet Member emphasised that Officers and Headteachers had continued to work together through the autumn, focussing on the need to lobby Devon MPs in order to persuade Government to allocate more funding for Devon education overall. He recognised that if Devon had not been underfunded per pupil relative to the national average, the difficulties now being faced would be much reduced and that High Needs was a national issue, reflecting decisions taken nationally.

Cabinet further noted that while some additional funding elements had been announced for future DSG Settlements, that funding would not be sufficient to cover the level of service now required within the High Needs Block.

Officers reiterated that even when further plans to contain spending were taken into account, the latest forecast indicated that a permanent injection of £2,220,000 was required in the 2017/18 budget to bring the expected deficit down to zero by outturn 2018/19.  This was  a more accurate estimate than the previous figure of ‘up to £4.5 million’ proposed to the Devon Education Forum and while the Cabinet must have regard to Schools’ views on the matter the allocations of the budget was ultimately a matter for the County Council to determine.

The Leader also referred to representations received subsequently from Teachers’ Phase Associations and on continuing discussions with Devon MPs to press the Council’s case for additional, fairer funding.

The Chief Officers’ Report referred to an Impact Assessment which would also form part of the 2017/18 Revenue Budget Impact Assessment, relating to the possible impacts of the proposal which was referred to and acknowledged, for the attention of Members, at the meeting in order that as part of its determination of the next steps in the process the Cabinet might have full regard to the responsibilities placed upon it to exercise its Public Sector Equality Duty, under s149 of the Equality Act 2010, where relevant. No unmanageable impacts had been identified to date: the proposals could be achieved without breaching any legal requirements.

The matter having been debated and the options and/or alternatives and other relevant factors  set out in the Report and/or referred to above having been considered:

It was MOVED by Councillor McInnes, SECONDED by Councillor Hart, and

RESOLVED

(a) that approval be given to the transfer of £2,220,000  within the Dedicated Schools Grant from Individual Schools Budgets to the High Needs budget, being a reduction in the Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU) of £33 (s4 of Report CT/17/7);

(b) that the expected need to take a proposal to the Devon Education Forum to carry forward an overspend in High Needs into the 2017/18 financial year be noted.

[NB: 1. See also response to Question referred to at  Minute 133 above. 2. The Impact Assessment referred will be available at:  http://new.devon.gov.uk/impact/].