Decision details

1. Schools Block (detail in Appendix A.2 and Growth Fund (detail in Appendix A.6)

a. the Schools Block budget was set at £259.445m for 2019/20, as per Table 1 above, after £2m of the overall Schools Block DSG has been transferred to the High Needs Block;

b. the basis for distributing the funding to mainstream schools was approved as set out in the Schools Block report to Schools Forum (Appendix A.2)

c. the Growth Fund for established schools expanding in September 2019 was set at £1.6m ( a component of the total Schools Block budget);

d. the Growth Fund policy is no different to that which operated in 2018/19 (Appendix A.6)

2. Central School Services Block (detail in Appendix A.3)

a. Subject to Schools Forum agreement, the Central School Services Block budget was set at £2.329m for 2019/20, after £0.566m is transferred to the High Needs Block.

3. High Needs Block (detail in Appendix A.4)

a. The High Needs Block budget was set at £58.187m for 2019/20 as per Appendix A.4.2, after receiving transfers of £2.566m from other blocks and bringing forward £2.407m DSG from future years;

b. Members noted that this level of budget is estimated to lead to a cumulative deficit in the High Needs Block in the region of £3.3m by the end of March 2020.

c. Members agreed that the current strategy for addressing the deficit is: a) to lobby central government to ensure that sufficient resource is provided for High Needs in Bristol; b) to work with stakeholders to identify service improvements through the High Needs Transformation Programme; and c) to continue to look for opportunities to transfer resource to High Needs from other blocks and funds.

4. Early Years Block (detail in Appendix A.5)

a. the Early Years Block budget was set at £36.950m for 2019/20 (including £0.517m to be applied from unspent Early Years DSG in either 2018/19 or 2019/20), noting that spend and DSG income will vary up or down, according to participation levels in each of the three terms;

b. Funding for Early Years should be distributed in line with the arrangements explained in the Early Years report to Schools Forum (Appendix A.5), including the continuation of local maintained nursery school factor.

c. Members noted that a decision on changes to the Early Years SEN hourly rates be considered as part of the High Needs Transformation Programme.

5. Overall position

a. Members noted that school balances are expected to be in the region of £5m at the end of 2018/19, with 14 of 75 maintained schools in deficit, and the DSG position is currently expected to underspend by £0.397m for 2018/19.