Agenda item

Atul Lad presented the paper which was to inform Schools Forum of the current position of the budget process for 14/15 and explain the decisions that will need to be made as part of the process. Atul confirmed that the formula needs to be finalised and submitted to the DfE by 21^st Jan 2014. Census data is needed before any further work can be done.

Schools Forum was asked to approve the Task and Finish Group’s recommendation regarding the Split Site Factor. The Task and Finish Group have discussed this at length and decided that £34,300 was a reasonable figure at this point.

Schools Forum agreed with this figure.

Paul McAteer raised the issue of the removal of the small schools factor which only affects Colnbrook. Steve Elson confirmed that this has also been discussed at length in the Task and Finish Group but unfortunately they cannot find a way of addressing it. He confirmed that they will look at the lump sum again in January as the DfE does not allow a small schools factor any more.

Steve Elson confirmed that since this paper was written the October pupil numbers have been received which increase the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) by  £2.8m. This money will go into school’s budgets via the DSG. Nicky Willis asked about the dates of Task and Finish Group meetings. Steve Elson confirmed that he will add them to the timetable included in section 5 of the paper. The December meeting was deferred and the next one is scheduled for 7^th January where work will be done on determining values.

Maggie Waller confirmed that primary heads are writing to her in terms of the primary/secondary ratio.