Children, Families & Learning Cabinet Member – Minutes – 20 February 2017

32 (32) OFSTED INSPECTION OUTCOMES FOR SCHOOLS IN NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE – The Director of Learning, Skills and Culture submitted a report updating the Cabinet Member on the new Ofsted inspection framework for schools and academies, which came into force on 1 September 2015, and informing the Cabinet Member of the outcomes of the full (section 5) inspection of Melior Community Academy and short (section 8) inspection of Huntcliff School.

A new Ofsted framework for schools came into force on 1 September 2015.  The main change from the previous framework was the introduction of short (Section 8) inspections, once every three years, for schools whose overall effectiveness was judged to be good at their last Section 5 inspection.

Resolved – That the Cabinet Member writes to the Head Teacher or Chair of Governors of the schools regarding the outcome of their inspection.

33 (33) SCHOOLS FUNDING FORMULA 2017-18 – The Director of Governance and Partnerships submitted a report updating the Cabinet Member with regard to the 2017-18 funding allocations for the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), and seeking approval for the proposed unit values for the 2017-18 schools funding formula, including a revised value in respect of the ‘low attainment’ factor.

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) published an operational guide annually outlining the arrangements to help councils and their school’s forums plan the local implementation, calculation and allocation of school funding formulas for the forthcoming financial year.

On 15 December 2016, the EFA published the 2017-18 DSG Allocations for 2017-18.  This was based on October 2016 School Census data.  The allocation for North Lincolnshire was £125.520m.

The element of DSG which was available for the Schools Budget was £101.710m of which £100.637m was set aside for mainstream schools funding.  The Operational Guide set out how individual school budget shares could be calculated.

The overall allocation of DSG included funded for academies.  This was retained by the Department for Education who allocated directly to academies via the EFA.

The school’s forum reviewed the funding formula on 21 September 2016 and agreed that the current formula should remain subject to affordability.

The report set out the final proposals for the North Lincolnshire schools funding formula 2017-18.

Resolved – (a) That the use of the formula factors and values as outlined in Option 1 at paragraph 3.1, be approved, and (b) that the factors detailed in Appendix 1 to the report be used to calculate the individual school budget shares for mainstream schools within North Lincolnshire for 2017-18.