Agenda item

Maggie Waller informed the Forum that the PFI Task and Finish Group had been cancelled as it was not adding value at this stage.  It could be rescheduled at a later date. Kathleen Higgins reported that no meetings with the PFI schools had yet been held.

It was reported that the £500,000 previously removed from the DSG in 2014/15 in respect of PFI has been returned and will be distributed to all schools and academies imminently.  The £500,000 for 2015/16, removed in error, will also be returned to schools and Coral Miller will provide more information on this at the May 2015 meeting

Maggie Waller added that The Early Years Group met in February and is due to meet again in June.

Coral Miller informed the Forum that the additional monies nett of pensions had gone out to schools and that academies are getting direct allocations.  Paul McAteer mentioned that academy Heads met with representatives from the Berkshire Pensions regarding value for money and it had been clarified that there is no option but to be in this scheme.

Paul McAteer suggested that it would be a useful task for the Task and Finish group to look at the differences between the modelling it used as the basis for recommendations, compared to final academies’ budgets. Coral Miller agreed to provide each academy with the information sent to the EFA by SBC. John Constable, Paul McAteer, Jo Rockall and Nicky Willis agreed that they would then look at this against their final budgets and bring their analysis to the next Task and Finish group (in June). Coral also agreed to send this information as a matter of course in future years.

Nicky Willis reported having met with Jo Mathews to discuss the unit cost split between primary and secondary Schools for SEBDOS de-delegated funds.  It appeared that SEBDOS funding is currently allocated with two thirds to primary schools and one third to secondary schools.  Robin Crofts explained that the allocation of funding had been based in the past on the patterns of work across phases. Helen Huntley suggested that she and Jo Mathews provide a written proposal for the Task and Finish group to inform an equitable split.

Jo Rockall reported that SASH had written to SBC regarding the Looked After Children Pupil Premium and concerns about the retained element of this. She agreed to share the response with Schools Forum members. Nicky Willis reported that Ruth Bagley had attended SPHA and that primary Headteachers supported the SASH response. 

The Minutes were approved.