Presentation to be made at the meeting
Minutes:
Further to Minute No. 10 of the meeting of the Rotherham Schools’ Forum held on 14th October, 2016, Members of the Schools’ Forum received a presentation from the Assistant Director of Education and Skills concerning the High Needs Block of the Total Schools Budget. The presentation and the subsequent discussion highlighted the following salient issues:-
: the population of the Rotherham Borough area does not remain static and has recently seen a growth of the pupil population in schools of some 13% from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2;
: the number of pupils will continue to increase as more homes are built within the Rotherham Borough area, as projected by the Local Plan (currently under consideration by the Local Authority);
: Rotherham is a net importer of school pupils (ie: pupils living outside the Rotherham Borough area) and this number of pupils is also increasing, as well as the proportion of those pupils who have some form of special educational need; this increase is especially apparent at Key Stage 3 and at Key Stage 4, which have the largest cohort of pupils with some form of special educational need;
: the baseline allocation of the High Needs Block reveals that Rotherham is under-funded in comparison to other similar local authorities, even though this budget is currently over-spent;
: as at November, 2016, the forecast is that the High Needs Block will be over-spent during the 2016/17 financial year by £5,504,998;
: a proportion of Rotherham-origin pupils who have special educational needs are subject to out-of-authority placements; although these placements are of good quality, the high cost is acknowledged; the Local Authority has the intention of providing residential placements within the Rotherham Borough, thus minimising the reliance upon out-of-authority placements (and the costs);
: another objective is to provide pupils who have special educational needs with opportunities for learning in a mainstream school setting, as these circumstances are very often beneficial for the individual; schools receive top-up funding for such pupils;
: the changing nature of special schools was acknowledged; special schools are better-resourced in terms of numbers of staff, but have to cope with an increasing number of pupils, some with very complex needs (eg: pupils may have emotional, mental and physical difficulties);
: the Government-imposed improvement process for the Local Authority had initiated partnership work with Lincolnshire County Council, including a peer review and a “star chamber” analysis of the Education Service; the “star chamber” analysis of Education funding and budgets had been extremely rigorous and worthwhile; the Local Authority had been praised for its strategic management of the special education service; there were significant challenges ahead, including the desirability of pupils who have special educational needs being able to access and to benefit from a broad curriculum in mainstream schools; there has been some questioning of past decision-making regarding the use of the Dedicated Schools Grant and also of the requirement for additional funding from Health services; care should be taken to ensure that the Education service does not fund services which should correctly be funded by Health services; the operation and funding of the Virtual School was also praised and it was confirmed that some of the Virtual School’s funding will be transferred to the High Needs Block; in conclusion, the peer review and the “star chamber” had stated that the focus of Education funding was good and the extent of delegation to schools was also good; however, some issues would remain less than satisfactory as a consequence of the impact of unwise strategic decisions taken by the Local Authority in the past (one example is school place planning);
Schools’ Forum members acknowledged that the external assessment afforded by the Lincolnshire County Council peer review and “star chamber” analysis had been extremely useful. The continuing challenge would remain the restricted budget provision and the increasing demand of more pupils with a wider range of complex special educational need. The upper-limit of the age range of the High Needs Block funding has increased from 16 years to 25 years. It was noted that parents had the right to appeal to a tribunal in respect of the special educational needs statement (education, health and care plan decision) made by a Local Authority. To date, there had been no such appeal affecting Rotherham MBC.
During discussion, the Schools’ Forum members raised the following salient issues:-
: a clear, strategic plan should be developed for the High Needs Block, with each element of funding being costed – a first draft of this document ought to be submitted to the Schools’ Forum’s next meeting (13 January 2017), prior to formal consideration at the next following meeting to be held on 10th March, 2017;
: it was acknowledged that a strategic plan would need to be co-constructed with the involvement of partner organisations; to that end, a sufficiency report is already being prepared by the Local Authority, involving Education and Social Care and Health colleagues;
: the Lincolnshire County Council “star chamber” budget analysis had concluded that further dialogue was required between the Education and Health Services in respect of the strategy for and operation of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS);
: budget restrictions and increasing demand for services will be constant pressures in the future and therefore competent, well-trained employees, as well as the sharing of information and best practice will continue to be essential.
The Schools’ Forum concluded that there ought to be an overarching and joint approach, between education, health and social care service providers, to the funding of pupils who have complex needs and special educational needs.
The Head of the School Effectiveness Service was thanked for the very informative presentation.
Agreed:- (1) That the presentation and supporting information about the High Needs Block be distributed, both in December, 2016 and again in early January, 2017, to the Head Teachers of all schools and to members of the Rotherham Schools’ Forum, so as to inform further consideration of this matter at the School’s Forum’s next meeting to be held on 13th January, 2017.
(2) That members of schools’ governing bodies and the chief and lead officers of appropriate external and partner organisations to the Local Authority also be provided with the presentation and supporting information about the High Needs Block.
(3) That the Service Leader, Inclusion (Rotherham MBC) submit a first draft report about the allocation and use of the High Needs Block funding to the next meeting of the Rotherham Schools’ Forum, prior to formal consideration of the report at a future meeting.