Agenda item

Lisa Potts introduced the report (Agenda Item 9), which updated on the outturn of the services funded by the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), highlighting any under or over spends, and to highlight the cumulative deficit at 31 March 2023.

Lisa Potts reported that the overspend against the DSG had increased from £2.9m to £4.7m and more detail on this was included under section four of the report.

Lisa Potts reported that there had been a large increase in the overspend against the HNB. West Berkshire would form part of the Delivering Better Value Programme and Lisa Potts had met with Jane Seymour to begin the process for this.

There had not been an overspend in the Schools’ Block and detail was included under section five of the report.

Lisa Potts reported that the Early Years Block had seen a slight increase in overspend. There was a five year recovery plan in place for this block and Lisa Potts reported that year one had seen a reduction in the overspend however, year two had finished with an increase of £138k due to a high pass through rate. The aim was to reduce this within the next couple of years. Further detail could be found under section six of the report.

Regarding the Central School Services Block, at year end, overall DSG funding received for the block was on budget and expenditure was underspent by £25k. The cumulative deficit on this block at the end of 2022/23 was £39k and it was hoped that this would continue to reduce.

Lisa Potts drew attention to section eight of the report, which detailed changes against the HNB. The DSG now had a cumulative deficit of £4.76m. The deficit against the HNB had increased by £1.5m to £5.0m. A £1.4m surplus in the Schools’ Block was reducing the overall total for the authority. The table under section nine of the report provided a summary of changes between 2022 and 2023, and use of reserves. 

RESOLVED that the Schools’ Forum noted the report.