Agenda item

Melanie Ellis introduced the report which provided an update on the work being carried out with the nine schools that had set a deficit budget in 2018/19. This report had been requested at the last meeting of the Schools’ Forum in January 2019.

Melanie Ellis reported that the report also contained comments from each of the schools on progress against their deficit.

Catie Colston commended the report and stated that she found the information very useful. Rev. Mark Bennet agreed however, suggested that going forward it would be helpful to highlight within tables the amount paid to schools from the Schools’ in Financial Difficulty Fund.

Ian Pearson drew attention to section 5.1 of the report, which positively showed that the collective deficit for schools in deficit had been reduced from £870k to £604k at period nine. This demonstrated the hard work carried out by schools and the Council to reduce the deficit.

Patrick Mitchell queried how confident officers were in forecasted figures. Ian Pearson stated that there was intense work taking place with the nine schools. The figures provided realistic forecasts that were being managed by the individual schools.

RESOLVED that the Schools’ Forum noted the report.