Issue - meetings

That the school balances as at the 31 March 2017 be noted.

            The Finance Manager (Education & Youth) introduced the report which provided an analysis of reserve balances for each school in Flintshire as at the end of March 2017 and the overall reserve balances held by schools at the end of the 2016/17 financial year compared with the previous year.

            In Flintshire, secondary school budgets continued to be under pressure with seven secondary schools showing deficits at the end of the financial year.  Forecasts for the current financial year show that the situation would worsen with potentially more schools slipping into deficit and the overall level of secondary school deficits increasing. 

            In accordance with the Council’s policy, schools must provide a statement on how they intended to use any surplus over the £50,000 for primary schools and over £100,000 for secondary schools and specialist schools.  The Schools Accounting Team requested and scrutinised this particular information.

            In conclusion, the Finance Manager (Education & Youth) advised that Governors had no legal right to set a deficit budget without the consent of the Council and should not presume such consent would be granted.  However, the Council would consider approving a licensed deficit to a school where it agreed that there were circumstances in which it would be unreasonable for that school to balance its budget in the current financial year.

            Mrs. Rebecca Stark commented on the worsening financial position for schools going forward and asked how schools would continue to be funded if all schools were in a financial deficit position.  She also commented that Estyn were not appreciative of the financial pressures being faced by schools.  The Corporate Finance Manager advised that if all schools were in deficit then funding would need to be provided though the Council’s reserves.  The Cabinet Member for Education added that current deficits were offset by the surpluses held by schools but as more schools went into deficit this would become a corporate financial risk to the Council.

            Councillor David Williams asked if an additional column could be added to future reports showing pupil numbers at each school.  The Interim Chief Officer (Education & Youth) agreed to look into the possibility of adding an additional column for pupil numbers following the meeting.  

RESOLVED:

That the school balances as at the 31 March 2017 be noted.