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Contact: Glynda O'Brien (01341) 424301
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Apologies To receive apologies for absence. Minutes: Cllr. Peredur Jenkins
(Cabinet Member, Resources), Peter Read (Chair of Services Scrutiny Committee),
Bethan Lawton (Vice-chair Services Scrutiny Committee), Llinos Lloyd
(Representative of the Gader Catchment Area Shadow Body), Cllr. Michael Sol Owen (Secondary Governors Representative),
Iwan Trefor Jones (Corporate Director) |
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Declaration of Personal Interest To receive any declaration of personal interest. Minutes: No
declarations of personal interest were received. |
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To confirm the minutes of a meeting of the Forum held on the 30 June 2015. (Copy attached) Minutes: The Chair signed the minutes of the meeting of the
Schools’ Budget Forum held on 30 June
2015 as a true record. |
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Matters arising from the Minutes i) 7b) Request from Teachers’ Union Forum for representation on Education Finance Working Group ii) 7) Primary Headteacher representative on Schools’ Finance Forum and 12) Governor representatives on Schools’ Finance Forum Minutes: (a)
Item 6 –
Budgetary Training for Schools The Finance Unit Manager
apologised that the above training had not been organised, however, it would be
arranged early in the New Year and would be of interest to School Heads as well
as Governors. Resolved: To
accept and note the above. (b)
Item 7 – Request from the Teachers Unions Forum for representation on
the Education Finance Working Group. Resolved:
To invite one representative to represent the Teaching Unions on the
Education Finance Working Group. (c)
Item 12 - Resignation It was reported that the
following had been nominated to serve on the Schools’ Budgetary Forum and those
present and attending their first meeting of the Forum were welcomed: (i)
Mr
Geraint Evans, Head of Ysgol Edern, to succeed
Mrs Sianelen Pleming, Head of Ysgol Llanaelhaearn, following her retirement (ii)
Mr
Dafydd Meirion Roberts, Representative for Arfon Secondary Governors, (iii)
Mr
Gwilym Jones, Representative for Dwyfor Primary Governors (iv)
Cllr. Michael Sol Owen,
Representative for Dwyfor Secondary Governors Mrs Llinos Lloyd, representative of the Gader Catchment Area Shadow Body |
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Education Finance Working Group - matters arising from meeting held on 17th September 2015 i) School Organisation (verbal report) ii) School Balances / additional protection for schools (see item 6) iii) Effect of cuts on job numbers (verbal report) iv) Gwynedd Way v) £4.3m (see item 6) Minutes: (i) The Senior Manager - Education Resources
Service referred to the comment made at a meeting of the above Working Group
regarding if it would be possible to include savings stemming from the schools
re-organisation as part of the savings target of £4.3m. The Head of Education
reported that they would seek to find savings as part of the Challenge Gwynedd
consultation process. In the context of the Gwynedd Challenge, several
roadshows had taken place and many had attended and the meetings were varied in
terms of the quality of the discussion. It was
noted that many of the questionnaires had been completed in the form of a paper
booklet as well as on-line. The consultation would finish at the end of the month
and then the intention was to undertake a process of grading the priorities
with a comprehensive report submitted to the Cabinet in January and to the full
Council for a final decision on 3 March 2016. It was further noted that the
time-schedule was tight, however, they had to try to come to a decision on the
savings target of £4.3m soon. The Head of Finance noted
that the settlement for Wales would not be known until 10 December 2015. In response to a comment made
that the Welsh Government had defended education in the past, it was noted that
there was currently no statement from the Welsh Government. In
terms of defending education, in presuming and planning new commitments, it was
stressed that they should continue to seek the target of £4.3m. The schools recognised that
the Council was transparent and this was appreciated. Resolved: To note the above. (ii) The Senior Manager - Education Resources
Service reported on the number of jobs that had been lost as a result of the
cuts as follows: Teaching
posts 25.4 (full time) Assistants 8.04 Ancillary
Staff 2.16 (iii) In response to the above, a Head noted that
approximately 50 posts had been lost from the secondary sector alone. It was further noted that the figures masked
the actual impact on schools, be that as full time and/or part time, and it was
suggested that more detailed figures should be submitted. Resolved: To
request that the Senior Manager - Education Resources Service submits more
detailed figures of the number of posts lost as part of the cuts process. |
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Proposed Policy of Additional Protection Allocation for Schools PDF 24 KB 6.1 Consultation papers 6.2 Summary of consultation responses Additional documents:
Minutes: A report was presented by the
Head of Education regarding the proposed policy for additional protection
allocation to schools. The Forum was guided through
the report by the Senior Manager -Education Resources Service, and it was noted
that full consultation had taken place with all the county’s schools on the proposed
additional minimum protection policy for staff to reduce the additional minimum
protection with a matching sum to the balances element of over 5% at the end of
the latest financial year as announced. Reference was made to the
consultation results and it was noted that a response had been received from 45
schools out of 109. It was further noted
that 36 (80%) were in favour of the proposal and 9 (20%) schools were
against. Consequently, there was a clear
indication that the schools who responded supported the policy and it was
stressed that it was possible for schools to discuss any concerns highlighted
with the authority. It was noted that if the
policy was accepted, as some of the £4.3m savings plans fell outside the 3 year
period 2015/16 to 2017/18, one off savings would be used to contribute to
funding the required bridging period. Resolved:
To approve the amendment to the additional protection allocation policy
for schools to include a clause to reduce the protection allocation to match
the balances element that is over 5% using the balances sum at the end of the
latest financial year when it was published. |
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Update on Review of Additional Learning Needs and Inclusion Verbal report Minutes: Resolved: To defer the above item. |
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Schools Savings Target - £4.3m PDF 19 KB 8.1 £4.3m summary 8.2 Education comparative spend 2015-16 8.3 Summary of weakening PTR an effect o protection 8.4 Modelling of weakened primary PTR 8.5 Modelling of weakening PTR in individual primary schools 8.6 Modelling of weakening PTR in individual secondary schools Additional documents:
Minutes: A report was submitted by the
Head of Education outlining the options to share the remaining savings target
of £3,348,000. (a)
The
Chairman expressed to the Forum, whilst accepting that schools lost money via grants,
demographic impact etc, that it was necessary to come to a specific decision
bearing in mind that other services within the Council had already agreed on
their targets. (b)
The
Head of Education summarised the previous arguments and the report before them
took into consideration the context of the Gwynedd Challenge, the discussion
and the options to share the remaining savings target between the primary and
secondary sectors, Estyn feed-back and comparative national statistics. They were reminded that in the past the Cabinet had
protected educational interests and the authority had been extremely
transparent and totally open regarding the contents of the options within the
report. It had to be remembered that the
department was being challenged corporately. (c)
The
Education Finance Working Group was thanked for determining the agreed plans in
the sum of £1,028,000 with the remaining savings of £2,320,00 to be found. (d)
That
the recommendation before for preferred Option C was based on educational
arguments and options A and CH were not under consideration. (e)
In
response to a comment made regarding long term plans for school organisation,
it was explained that the Cabinet’s direction was a target savings of £4.3m to
schools and that no saving was based on school organisation to be included
within the £4.3m. It was
stressed that the infrastructure was not sustainable within the available
budget. (f)
During
the discussion regarding achieving the remainder of the savings target, the
following observations were highlighted:
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Amend the Clerk of Governors Service Level Agreement PDF 63 KB 9.1 Service Level Agreement – Clerical Service for School Governing Bodies Additional documents: Minutes: Changes to the Governors Clerking Service Level Agreement
were submitted. The Forum was guided through the report by the Senior Manager
Education Resources Service, who noted that sufficient recognition was not
given for the time taken to fully undertake clerking work to a good standard. The Administrative
Officers of the Authority’s Secondary Schools and school clerks were consulted
to ascertain the average hours they took to undertake their duties as well as
the need to give an element of advisory service to governing bodies. The Forum was requested to approve the amendment in the
Service Level Agreement and to agree on the following payments: £1500 Primary Schools £2500 Secondary Schools Enquiries/questions were received from Forum Members and the
Senior Manager Education Resources responded as follows:
It was proposed, seconded and voted to approve the change in
the SLA. Resolved:
To approve the amendment in the Service Level Agreement and allow the
following payments: £1500 Primary Schools £2500 Secondary Schools |