Consultation on new school funding arrangements from 2006-07

Consultation Response Form

The closing date for this consultation is: 13 May 2005
Your comments must reach us by that date.

Please tick if you want us to keep your response confidential.

Name

Organisation (if applicable)

Hampshire County Council

Address:

The Castle, Winchester, Hampshire SO23 8UG

X

Local Authority

Schools Forum

Teacher Union

Governor Association

Headteacher Association

School

Headteacher

Bursar

Governor

Teacher

Parent

Other

Please Specify:

Hampshire County Council is responsible for maintaining more than 540 schools with a pupil population in excess of 170,000.

Strongly agree

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

X

Strongly disagree

Comments:

In Hampshire County Council's view the provision of information for three financial years on a consistent basis is going to be far more helpful to schools than provision of the information also for academic years. The financial year basis links well into the wider local government developments on three year funding indications.

The County Council has very significant concerns about the complexities and costs in moving to academic year budgets. In multiplying the information produced, the answers will become confusing to heads, governors and administrative staff particularly in the primary and special schools which make up the majority of schools. They do not have, nor should have, resources available to consider the additional complexities that secondary schools can manage with somewhat less difficulty. It strongly supports the view of Hampshire Governors Representative Group that anything beyond financial year budgeting should be voluntary and as such is possible within a three year settlement.

Furthermore any development of service commissioning and other developments affecting schools from the Children Act will be based on financial years and that is what local authorities, health authorities and children's trusts will be working on. The academic year budgets approach will make partnership working far more difficult.

Comments:

One of the greatest challenges most schools over the next few years is managing falling rolls in an effective way so as to maintain full curriculum coverage. Good case studies of schools that have successfully managed falling rolls without redundancies are likely to be helpful to many schools.

A further move, as the department develops its proposals for a new single schools grant, would be to make available a spreadsheet where schools can model their own allocations.

August to July

X

September to August

Comments:

If academic year information is going to be helpful then the September to August funding period makes most sense for the vast majority of schools. The Learning & Skills Council element affects less than 10% of all maintained schools. It could be appropriate for the LSC to adjust its funding periods for schools sixth forms to the September to August period or at least for it to provide supplementary information on that basis. An element of consistency is likely to be helpful in developing funding arrangements for the 14-19 curriculum.

Strongly agree

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

X

Strongly disagree

Comments:

The County Council is totally opposed to academic year allocations as complex and costly. Funding allocations should be based on financial years. Budgets and local budget planning tools can now take account of mid year effective dates for funding and changes. There is no cost or business driver for a September change and funding will continue to sit most sensibly with the financial year for both local authorities and schools given that this remains the accounting period.

Strongly agree

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

X

Strongly disagree

Comments:

Hampshire County Council believes that the continuing legal requirement for schools to account on a financial year basis should have led to an acceptance that academic year accounting was not rationally deliverable. Academic year accounting, particularly when schools are not normally in session at the end of the academic year, is particularly problematic as well as costly.

Furthermore it needs to be recognised that budgeting or planning on an academic year basis requires some form of budget monitoring to be meaningful. On an academic year basis the classic planning and review cycle cannot be completed without summary financial information being easily available so that informed judgements can be made on the effectiveness of current plans and the need for revision of future plans. This process means that the requirement to account in financial years should lead to the planning emphasis being over the same time period or else duplication of effort will occur.

The imposition of additional administrative costs on schools goes against the Gershon and reducing bureaucracy agendas. It is a poor use of the money.

There will also be real additional costs for local authorities in respect of systems, extra processes and staff time if any form of academic year budgets (and thus period end and academic year accounts) are introduced.

Comments:

Hampshire County Council believes that the objectives are best served by a strong emphasis on clear planning figures for three or four financial years ahead.

The academic year aspect is a costly diversion of effort which adds little additional stability for schools once they have three year budgets.

Strongly agree

x

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Comments:

Changes in pupil numbers are a wholly necessary reason for funding to change.

However the DfES should consider whether for the longer term greatest stability might not be achieved by moving to activity led funding with the class rather than the pupil being the key funding block.

X

Lagged pupil numbers

Actual pupil numbers

Comments:

This is the current system and it works satisfactorily in most cases. Change will cause instability and delay the definitive notifications to local authorities and schools.

X

Lagged pupil numbers

Actual pupil numbers

Comments:

Experience shows that the management of falling rolls at both local authority and school level is always a real challenge. It is worth noting that the consideration of this issue by the Education Funding Strategy Group a few years ago led to the conclusion that the lagged data did provide a reasonable basis for the falling rolls issue.

Strongly agree

x

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Comments:

All measures which create certainty for the County Council as to the funds available for distribution to schools will enable schools to be more confident also in their own planning.

Strongly agree

X

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Comments:

Hampshire County Council is concerned at the recent timetable for the inclusion or otherwise of new material arising from the 2001 census. This must be fully incorporated in the 2006/07 allocations. Providing this is done the context of clear unit of resource indications, as in the proposed paper, mean the distortion caused by major changes to non pupil data indicators could be unhelpful. However there is concern that a change to such indicators only every three years may of itself produce undue variation in funding and require yet another ceiling/floor mechanism.

The production of a clear agreed advance timetable for the usage of census and other major survey data in the funding of education and children services more generally would be worthwhile. It is perhaps worth examining the benefits of a weighted rolling average which would gradually incorporate changes with some weightings, e.g. in year 1 current has a weighting of 3 and new has a weighting of 1 and in year 2 they have equal weights, so that the use made of data over 2-3 years is aimed to produce stability rather than that caused by freezing data. Certainly any approach adopted in relation to DSG should be entirely compatible with that used for both children services FSS and the residue of EFSS.

Ceiling only

X

Ceiling plus damping block

Comments:

Hampshire County Council has three years' experience of the SFSS floor and is worried about the further reductions for Hampshire schools implied by funding at SFSS. It therefore believes that the DfES should commit itself to find the money for a damping block from elsewhere within its cash limits.

Comments:

As Hampshire County Council recognises the challenges of managing falling rolls it accepts that a few authorities will need a cash floor.

Comments:

Hampshire County Council is sure that there need to be suitable transitional arrangements to prevent any adverse impact on the rest of local government when DSG is introduced in 2006/07. This is particularly important in view of the development of Childrens Services, as well as our continuing expenditure on education. We would not want measures designed to address school issues which prevented suitable answers on Childrens Services especially since most of the children are also school pupils. Equally schools would not benefit from changes which, for example, made home to school transport impossible to fund. It is vital therefore that the transition from locally to nationally determined overall funding levels for schools is achieved without undermining the support for LEA services within the residual Education FSS. In constructing a base position for grant floors in 2006/07 it will be necessary to take account of the variation for individual authorities in 2005/06 between the level of Schools Budgets and SFSS.

The County Council believes progress in this area is an urgent priority and wishes to know what the timescale is for this important piece of work.

Comments:

The County Council believes that the change should respect the usual local government standards in respect of accounting, carryovers and so on. There should not be new grant restrictions and every opportunity should be taken to reduce forms, such as the plethora of Section 52 tables , to the minimum needed.

The County Council still believes that this is an unnecessary change which cuts through local accountability. Stability and predictability can be achieved with three year settlements.

This introduction has a potentially significant and distorting impact on the grant system and the whole of local government finance.

X

Strongly agree

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Comments:

Hampshire County Council knows that many of those items within the Schools Budget which are not delegated such as : early years education, funding for special educational needs pupils, education other than at school; are the areas which experience greatest budget variation. Furthermore the expected development of the integrated services to meet the five outcomes for children are likely to reshape these budgets over the next few years. It is thus very important in ensuring that the needs of all children are met, to provide for the regular examination of the balance between delegated budgets and items that are also part of the dedicated schools grant but not delegated to schools.

At or above cost pressures

X

Lower than cost pressures

Comments:

The County Council shares the Audit Commission concern that the minimum funding guarantee is in danger of causing undue paralysis in the funding of schools and preventing genuine changes being implemented. What we therefore suggest is that the minimum funding guarantee should be somewhat lower than cost pressures so as to allow flexibility. It is also worth noting that cost pressures may not be the same in all authorities ; some examples are local government pension contributions and the impact of procurement efficiencies.

X

Strongly agree

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Comments:

Our local formulae have been developed as a result of local policy initiatives and consensus developed over 15 years of formula funding. Changing patterns of needs may require formula variations. New curriculum developments or the results of the deprivation review are two examples.

We are consulting on a new method of SEN funding for 2006/07 onwards and it is possible that in due course experience will show that the intentions behind the agreed formula change have not quite been realised. There must always be flexibility to make the necessary adjustments. The usual consultation processes with all local schools on formulae changes would ensure that the range of local needs were served.

More certain but less responsive to change

X

Less certain but more responsive to change

Comments:

The County Council is generally in favour of local responsiveness to changes and believes each Schools Forum and local authority should decide for themselves.

Strongly agree

X

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Comments:

Hampshire County Council believes that greater predictability and certainty in the short term are often desirable and time to plan changes could be helpful. It would be worried about school level frustration if changes which would increase budget shares can only be made some time after the underlying change in circumstances and may be costs have occurred.

a) pupil number changes applied to AWPUs only

b) pupil number and non-pupil data

X

c) an approach to be decided locally

Comments:

Hampshire County Council would want a discussion of the issues at Schools Forum and then a consultation with all schools within the authority.

X

Strongly agree

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Comments:

The County Council believes that it is important for resources to follow the pupils with the most notable special educational needs in mainstream schools. This is one of the reasons why it retains centrally topup funds for those pupils with low incidence statements. This flexibility is undermined by the central expenditure limit which the County Council opposes. Certainly where authorities have delegated these funds on a named pupil basis it would be inappropriate to include them in school budget forecasts.

a) Allowing the funding to flow through an authority's formula and letting the Minimum Funding Guarantee moderate any turbulence

b) Allowing an authority to include a factor in their formula to continue the current distribution

X

c)Allowing an authority the flexibility to take an approach between options a) and b)

Comments:

Hampshire County Council supports the Schools Forum's approach to Teachers Pay Grants in 2005/06 which was a result of the greater freedom that the specific formula grant mechanisms provided. Any further development should be for local decision by the schools forum in the light of experience. This means the 2005/06 distribution methodology adopted by Hampshire's Schools Forum must be allowed by the rules governing formula funding.

Comments:

Strongly agree

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

X

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Comments:

Hampshire County Council is generally opposed to specific grants and in favour of one main unrestricted source of finance for schools as part of the normal system of local government finance . These grants should cease in a planned way over time as the expectation that schools can curtail their finance commitments to the specific time periods of the grant is unrealistic. No new ones should be added.

The recent announcement on school meals funding is a good example of the problem:- schools will get support for three years for higher food costs but then be expected to maintain the higher level of expenditure from the rest of their budgets.

The County Council believes that the capacity for funding local initiatives was almost eliminated by the LMS and Fair Funding rules and even the chance to make sensitive adjustments to local formulae is being restricted. Local innovation will only be possible with some relaxation of the restrictions on local authorities.

x

Yes

No

Comments:

Hampshire County Council believes that some work should be done to see whether the primary strategy and support for KS3 strategy can sensibly be part of the amalgamated grant.

Strongly agree

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

X

Strongly disagree

Comments:

There is already frustration among schools with rising numbers on roll which have had no adjustment to their Standards Fund grant to reflect the additional number of pupils and staff which they have. The County Council believes some more work needs to be done to see what the effect would be of recognising the pressures on the schools with rising rolls as has been done locally where School Development Standards Fund levels have permitted.

Strongly agree

X

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Comments:

Hampshire County Council believes that, so long as this grant is retained , the more rapidly it is moved to a basis which makes sense of the formula the better.

Strongly agree

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

X

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Comments:

The County Council's preference is to see these grants reduced to meet pump priming or targeted schemes only. The funding should be transferred into the new DSG and mainstream school funding.

X

Strongly agree

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Comments:

Hampshire County Council is committed to supporting collaborative approaches to school improvement and welcome greater flexibility with the agreement of the Schools Forum. The flexibility provided by local authority managed Standards Funds can provide a real opportunity for linking the school improvement and childrens services agendas in a creative way. This flexibility to amend the holdback is likely to be particularly important when the cash amounts for all Standards Funds at local authority level are frozen.

Comments:

Hampshire County Council firmly supports the case for moving much of the amalgamated Standards Fund Grants into main funding as soon as practicable.

It welcomes the acknowledgement in paragraph 163 of the work of local area agreements and believes that it is important that as these agreements develop, along with changes flowing from the Children Act 2004, there is an opportunity to revisit the way the new single standards grant operates.

Strongly agree

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

X

Strongly disagree

Comments:

Hampshire County Council acknowledges that it is important for all schools to have standards to which they can aspire. However the different situation and needs of schools ranging from larger secondary schools with over 1,500 pupils to small primary schools and special schools with less than 50 pupils mean it is entirely inappropriate to impose one compulsory standard. A new administrative and procedural burden on schools will not raise educational standards further. Moreover there is little evidence that the specific issues addressed by the Financial Management Standard have become more critical for schools as a result of either greater delegation or recent funding problems. The critical financial management challenges around the links between funding, changing pupil numbers, curriculum delivery and recognising efficiencies are more likely to be addressed by many of the other aspects of the consultation paper.

Comments:

Comments:

Hampshire County Council believes that its current arrangements whereby schools can order items simply with reasonable assurance that the price they pay is fair and that the goods and services are of an acceptable quality are very suitable for schools. There are well established consultative mechanisms as well as the formal consideration at Schools Forum

An area which causes considerable concern to secondary schools are the entry charges made by the three examining bodies, cost savings here would be of benefit to schools and require national rather than local action.

Comments:

The County Council is clear that improvements in behaviour , teaching and learning mean that schools are becoming more productive. However the achievement of these goals does not fit with simple measures of efficiency. For example keeping the number of primary teachers almost constant and increasing the numbers of support staff whilst rolls fall will deliver the gains that are sought from workforce reform but this could well not show in many of the usual simple efficiency measures.

Yes

No