Agenda item

 The Chair introduced the report (Agenda Item 6), which provided an update from the first meeting of the Task and Finish Group set up to review the governance of the Schools’ Forum. Schools’ Forums had been a statutory requirement for local authorities since 2003 and had both decision making and consultative duties relating to local education funding. The Chair reported that it was good practice to review practices and terms of reference from time to time to maximise efficiency and purpose, and to ensure that it was meeting current needs and taking note of best practice guidance.

The Task and Finish Group had met on 26th June to make recommendations and had agreed that all members' views were important and should be sought by means of a survey. The Chair thanked Trevor Keable for developing the survey, which Jess Bailiss would circulate during the coming week. All Forum members were encouraged to complete the survey by the deadline of 15^th August. This would give the group a chance to review all the answers and report back to the Schools’ Forum at their next meeting in October.

It was noted that the initial equality impact assessment indicated no impact, but it was hoped the review would lead to positive impacts.

The Chair invited the Forum to consider the recommendations set out in section two of the report that the revised Constitution and Work Programme were brought to the Schools’ Forum for consideration in October 2025 to allow more time for the review to take place. It was also recommended that the current Constitution (as agreed in July 2024), membership and draft Work Programme 2025/26 remain in place until October 2025. The recommendations were proposed and seconded and at the vote the motion was approved.

RESOLVED that the recommendations set out under section two of the report were approved.