Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

Councillor Paul Cunningham asked the Chair if Declarations of Interest were required from Members who were school governors.  It was confirmed that there was not a conflict of interest and that Members’ declarations of interest in this regard had already been registered.

Councillor Paul Cunningham asked the Chair if Declarations of Interest were required from Members who were school governors.  It was confirmed that there was not a conflict of interest and that Members’ declarations of interest in this regard had already been registered.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 23 November 2017.

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.  

            The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 23 November 2017 had been circulated to Members with the agenda.

Matters arising

            On page 6 of the minutes, Councillor Mackie asked if the Facilitator had forwarded the concerns of the Committee to the Performance Team around the formatting of reports and whether training could be provided to Members in order for them to gain a better understanding of performance reports.  The Facilitator confirmed that the concerns had been forwarded and that a request had been made for training to be added to the Member Training Programme. 

            In response to a question from Councillor Mackie on his query around ‘the percentage of young people aged 16 – 18 in the youth justice system offered education, training or employment’ within the performance report, the Facilitator agreed to chase a response.

            Following a comment from Councillor Heesom around the lack of Youth Services in the west of the County and a question on a report being submitted to a future meeting of the Committee, the Interim Chief Officer (Education & Youth) confirmed that the following two reports would be submitted to the 12 April, 2018 Committee meeting:-

·         Youth Council – to provide an update on progress

·         Integrated Youth Services – to provide a detailed update on overall provision of Integrated Youth Services

            The Interim Chief Officer (Education & Youth) thanked Councillor Kevin Hughes for preparing the recent press article around social media and internet safety in schools which had assisted in raising the profile of support being provided by the Council to children, young people and teachers.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.   

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.

(a)       That the Committee acknowledges the work done in previous years to        protect schools budgets;

(b)       That the Committee recognises that a ‘cash flat’ settlement poses risks       to schools and their ability to deliver the curriculum effectively;

(c)        That should additional resources become available, the Committee             recommends that Council provides an uplift to schools budgets if at all possible; and

(d)       That the Committee urge all parties to campaign as vigorously as possible, the National UK Government and Welsh Government to see an increase in quantum funding.

            The Chief Executive presented the stage two proposals for the School funding formula level for the 2018/19 Council Fund Budget.  The report outlined the potential risks and mitigations of such proposals on the delivery of quality educational services in Flintshire and provided contextual information on the current level of school balances, reductions in grant funding from Welsh Government (WG) and an overview of the inflationary cost pressures facing schools.

            Council at its December meeting approved the Stage two budget for the Council Fund Budget 2018/19 subject to several specific proposals being referred to Overview and Scrutiny for detailed scrutiny prior to further consideration by Cabinet and ultimately Council.  One of the specific budget proposals was that schools would only receive a ‘cash flat’ settlement for 2018-19 creating an efficiency of £1.143m, and that adjustments to school budget were made based on pupil demography, saving a further £0.288m.

            The Chief Executive concluded that despite the challenges of austerity over a prolonged period, the Council had managed to provide a small degree of financial protection to schools’ delegated funding and had previously met the Welsh Government’s Ministerial protection percentage uplifts for schools.  The challenging financial situation which was requiring the Council to consider setting only a ‘cash flat’ budget for schools had been created by nationally set policies which were unfunded e.g. pay awards for teachers and support staff and an increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions. 

            The Chief Officer (Education & Youth) reported that Schools had been proactive in adjusting to reducing funding levels and had critically reviewed their budgets to absorb pressures whilst focusing on maintaining the delivery of a quality curriculum and improving learner outcomes.  Open and honest discussions had been held with Schools with some more exposed to the financial challenges than others.  A further risk to school budgets was the reduction of specific grants in the Education and Youth Portfolio, as detailed within the report, which schools relied on to deliver services themselves or from which they received support services directly from the Council.   

            The Chairman invited Mrs. Rachel Molyneux, Richard Collett, Mrs. Ann Peers and Mr. John Wier, representing the Primary and Secondary Head Teachers Federation, to outline to the Committee their views on the current budget proposals for schools.  A copy of the representations made are attached at Appendix 1 and 2 of the minutes.

            The Leader of the Council thanked the Head Teachers for their attendance.  He commented on the continued challenges of austerity and the possible financial challenges facing the Council in the future financial years if the austerity programme continued.  He detailed the specific requests which had been made to Welsh Government (WG) for additional funding through an increase in the Domiciliary Care Fee Cap, recovery of 50% of the Apprentice Tax Levy, and a guarantee of future financial contributions through the Intermediate Care Fund (ICF).  He supported the case being put forward by Head Teachers and the need to continue to lobby UK National Government and Welsh Government to seek additional funding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

That the observations of the Committee be reported to Cabinet on Tuesday 23 January 2018.  

            The Chief Officer (Education & Youth) introduced the report which outlined the projects contained within the Council’s Strategic Outline Programme (SOP) submission to Welsh Government (WG).  The report also detailed the principles used and assumptions made to deliver a programme with as minimal impact on future revenue budgets and information around the Mutual Investment Model (MIM).

            The Leader of the Council advised that the SOP had yet to be approved by Cabinet.  He explained that WG had requested that the programmes be prioritised, however given the complex programme would be over a 5/6 year period, there would need to be a degree of flexibility around the prioritisation with the Education Programme Board continuing to review the programme.

            In response to questions around the MIM, the Senior Manager School Planning and Provision explained that this was the WG’s new form of Public Partnership or Private Finance Initiative (PFI).  Through this service the Council would receive an intervention rate of 75% funding from WG with 25% funded by the Council for a period of 25 years.  The funding from WG would be received in the form of a specific grant.  

            In response to comments around welsh medium education, the Chief Officer reported that through the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP), the Council was committed to increasing the number of pupils accessing Welsh medium education to help WG achieve its ambitious target of a million Welsh speakers by 2050.

            Councillor Tudor Jones spoke in support of rural schools which he felt should be actively sustained.  He also commented on the need to actively progress federation and proposed that any reference to the closure of a rural school within the programme be removed.  This proposal was seconded by Councillor Patrick Heesom.  When put to the vote this proposal was lost.

            Mrs. Rebecca Stark questioned whether the report should have been considered in a public forum and raised concerns around the impact such proposals could have on school placements.  The Chief Officer responded that all schools had been briefed with discussions taking place with all Head Teachers individually on the programme and it had been explained that they were a provisional set of proposals at this stage.  

            Mr. David Hytch asked for information on the land at Ysgol Maes Edwin and Ysgol Llanfynydd following their closure.  The Senior Manager School Planning and Provision confirmed that options were currently being considered for the land at Ysgol Maes Edwin and that the land at Ysgol Llanfynyd had been sold. 

RESOLVED:

That the observations of the Committee be reported to Cabinet on Tuesday 23 January 2018.  

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme be amended;

(b)       That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee, be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arose; and

The Education & Youth Overview & Scrutiny Facilitator presented the current Forward Work Programme for consideration and advised that the items identified during the meeting around Youth Services would be added to the list of scheduled items for 12 April, 2018 meeting.    

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme be amended;

(b)       That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee, be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arose; and

There were 35 members of the public and 1 member of the press in attendance