Agenda item

Claire White introduced the report to the Schools’ Forum, which set out the final position of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) budget for 2017/18. Claire White commented that the report provided updated information from that which was provided at the meeting of the Schools’ Forum in January.

It was suggested that the Forum go through agenda items seven and eight before voting on the recommendation set out under paragraph 2.1 of the report, which was to agree the overall DSG budget for 2017/18.

Regarding the Schools Block the Council’s Executive had agreed the formula funding on the 19^th January, along with the methodology for allocating headroom to schools. All headroom (£226k) was allocated out to schools as per the agreed methodology and schools had received their formula funding allocation for 2017/18.

Although the funding rates for the Early Years Block had been confirmed, the final funding was determined by hours of provision in both the January 2017 census (five twelfths) and the January 2018 census (seven twelfths)

The funding for the block was currently estimated based on the draft January 2017 census, plus the estimate used by the Department for Education (DfE) for the increase to 30 hours of provision from September 2017. It was unknown what the impact this increase in hours would have on the budget position.

The High Needs Block funding was confirmed and would not change. The 2017/18 allocation added an additional £350k, which was based on actual population and assumed population increases. There was a more detailed report on this area next on the agenda.