RESOLVED:

That (a) consultation should take place on the basis that the following are the preferred options but with a range of options to be presented in the consultation paper:

1              LUMP SUM

a)            Herefordshire should adopt the lump sum values (proposed by the f40) of £75,000 for primary and £150,000 for secondary schools

b)            The transition to these new values should be phased in over the same period that sparsity funding is implemented – options for 3 or 5 years were suggested, the Budget Working Group favouring five years.

2          SPARSITY

            A sparsity factor should be applied as follows:

Primary Sparsity Model

a)             That the sparsity subsidy should be set at £51,000 for a 28 pupil primary school and that funding should decrease on a tapered basis.

b)            Primary Model A, a sparsity lump sum of £70,000 and the 105 pupil model, should be the preferred sparsity model as this does not reduce expenditure from 2012/13, however, views on the alternative Model C should also be sought.

Secondary Sparsity Model

That the sparsity lump sum should be set at £70,000 to maintain consistency with the primary sparsity model and the pupil threshold of 450 pupils be adopted.

Sparsity Generally

That the cost of sparsity payments in high schools should be funded by high schools and those in primary schools should be funded by primary schools.

3          PRIMARY/SECONDARY RATIO

That consultation be conducted on the basis of a £200,000 per year transfer from primary to secondary schools over a five year period moving the ratio from 1:18 to 1:23 at 1% per year, making provision for reviewing the position annually to permit adjustments to be made if appropriate, and ensuring that the actions of other authorities were monitored and in each annual review the family average was considered to see whether that had changed.

4          MOBILITY FACTOR

That no change be made in relation to a mobility factor for the present and the position reviewed for 2015/16.

5          LUMP SUM/SPARSITY/PRIMARY:SECONDARY RATIO PACKAGE

That the proposals for the lump sum, the application of a sparsity factor and a phased move towards the average funding ratios were interlinked and were best viewed as a single package.

6          PRIOR ATTAINMENT – SEN PROXY PUPILS NOT ACHIEVING          KS2 LEVEL 4 IN MATHS/ENGLISH 

That the funding allocation for secondary prior attainment be amended to £147 per pupil not attaining Maths or English to maintain the current expenditure at the same level as 2013/14 i.e. £347,184.

7     MISCELLANEOUS

·                     That the DfE should be asked to confirm whether or not it had taken account of schools across the Welsh border in calculating the sparsity factor and requested to recalculate the sparsity factor if it had not done so.

·                     That the consultation paper should explain the redistribution of resources to more fairly reflect the deprivation factor following the cessation of the excellence cluster funding.

·                     That the consultation document should explicitly state that schools with fewer than 70 pupils could not afford their own head teacher and needed to federate if they were to be viable.

b          it should be noted that proposals were being made on the basis that funding levels would remain the same, noting that if they were to decrease further work on the various models would be needed;

 c         in reviewing the financial risk assessment framework the Authority and schools should in particular consider what risk indicators it would be beneficial for Headteachers and governors to keep informed of, in order to  provide the best means of governors, and where necessary the local authority, taking early preventative action to avoid deficits arising;

d          the Cabinet Member (Children’s Services) be recommended that the Dedicated Schools Grant underspend of £44k for 2012/13 be transferred to the High Needs Block.

e          the Forum confirmed that it is satisfied that the requirement that Forum papers, minutes and decisions are being published promptly on the Authority’s website is being met; and

f           the Education Funding Agency’s comments on improving communication within the groups represented on the Forum be noted.