(i) Behaviour Support Service and EAL Service
At the last meeting the Schools Funding Forum agreed on behalf of maintained primary schools to de-delegate budgets for the Behaviour Support Service and the EAL service. The decision on these two services on behalf of maintained secondary schools was deferred. A decision is now required in time for the budget setting timetable.
(ii) Trade Union Facility Time
The Schools Funding Forum at previous meetings has considered the de-delegation of Trade Union Facility Time but deferred its decision on behalf of primary and secondary maintained schools pending a view from academies.
Secondary head teachers have now considered the matter and the vast majority have decided that they would not wish to return the money delegated to them to maintain the current arrangements.
A decision on de-delegation on behalf of maintained primary and secondary schools is now required.
Minutes:
Behaviour Support Service & EAL Service
At the Forum’s previous meeting it had agreed on behalf of maintained primary schools to de-delegate budgets for the Behaviour Support Service and EAL service. The decision on these two services on behalf of maintained secondary schools was deferred. A decision was required in time for the budget setting timetable.
Members noted that only one representative was at the Forum on behalf of maintained secondary schools. It was proposed and agreed that a decision should be taken outside of the meeting, as it was purely a decision to be taken by maintained secondary schools, with 12 of the 18 secondary schools in Havering to be academies in 2013. The number of schools to which de-delegation applied was very small so the Forum agreed that the decision should be taken by maintained secondary representatives alongside the Chairman outside of the meeting.
Because of the decisions of the Forum to de-delegate funding for the EAL Service and Behaviour Support Service for the primary sector, both of these would be maintained and would be accessible by all schools but at a charge for academies and secondary schools if not de delegated.. It was suggested that the schools be written to letting them know about the availability of the service. Further, a letter to academies should invite them to consider how they wished to interact with the service.
Trade Union Facility Time
At previous meetings of the Schools Funding Forum the issue of Trade Union Facility Time had been considered but a decision had been deferred on behalf of primary and secondary schools pending a view from academies.
Secondary head teachers had now considered the matter and the vast majority had decided that they did not wish to return the money delegated to them to maintain the current arrangements. A decision on de-delegation on behalf of maintained primary and secondary schools was now required.
Members noted that the £200,000 top slice from the Dedicated Schools Grant paid for three or four trade union representatives for facility time. From that money schools were reimbursed for the loss of staff time when those representatives needed to be outside of the school on trade union business. De-delegation was not allowed for academies. Members queried how much of the £200,000 was reserved to cover primaries and how much for secondary schools and it was explained that it was split (roughly) in half between the two sectors.
Academy head teachers had considered that they would be able to cover the cost for facility time from within additional amounts delegated to them. The Forum was informed that there was no audit trail for the £200,000. There was no means of evidencing the work that was conducted by trade unions representatives during their facility time, however, trade union representatives explained that much of the work they did, on a day to day basis to alleviate staffing disputes (often imperceptible) saved far more money than that allocated, and was hard to measure or quantify.
The Forum, noting that a decision taken today in relation to LA maintained schools would determine the funding allocation for facility time and it was preferable for the budget to cover primary and secondary schools rather than fund a reduced provision just for primary. However, if academies were making a decision not to de-delegate then primaries would need to meet and decide what to do. Members required further information on how the money was being spent.
It was suggested that a union representative should attend a secondary head teacher meeting so that a case could be made for retaining the pooled budget and to better understand statutory responsibilities...
It was agreed a decision was not possible today and the decision was deferred to the next meeting. Officers confirmed that if a meeting were held prior to the January meeting then it would be just in time for the budget settlement.