To note any items that are a
matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for consideration.
Minutes:
Schools’ Savings Target
This item was not included on the Agenda, however, the
Chair agreed for it to be discussed as an urgent item under Section 100B (4)(b)
Local Government Act 1972 as the matter had arisen since the last
committee meeting, a
recent resolution had been made by the
Schools’ Budget Forum
on 18 November 2015 and the view was that it
should be scrutinized prior to implementation.
The Chair explained that a request had been received
from Councillor Alwyn Gruffydd for the committee to discuss the schools’
savings target, and the member was invited to elaborate further.
Councillor Alwyn Gruffydd referred to a recent
discussion at a meeting of the Schools’ Budget Forum on 18 November 2015 that
was a contentious meeting, when it was resolved to recommend to the Cabinet
that a cut of £1.3m be made in the primary sector and £680,363 in the secondary
sector. The
Member was of the view that there was tension between primary and secondary,
large, medium and small schools and the cut would entail classrooms of up to 40
children in some schools and in turn this would have an impact on the County’s
education standards. It was felt that the cut would therefore undermine the
principles and this Scrutiny Committee should have an opportunity to consider
the seriousness of the impact of the cuts on schools before the decision was
adopted by the Cabinet.
The Senior Manager, Democracy
and Delivery, explained that when adopting the Financial Strategy at the full
Council in March 2015, the Council resolved to adopt the Financial Strategy
that included ‘Placing a target of £4.3m for the schools’ budget’. It was
understood that what the Schools’ Budget Forum decision did was to determine
how to achieve an element of this. Therefore, the Schools’ Budget Forum was acting on a
decision already taken by the Council.
The Head of Education
explained that schools faced a target of £4.3m cuts and had found approximately
£2m in savings and there was a difference of opinion on how to achieve the
remaining £2.3m. The Committee was
reminded that the Council faced a shortfall of £50m with £9m of this being
achieved via Council tax. It was noted
that the Council funded schools very generously compared with other Welsh
authorities and it had to be borne in mind that 8 of the 15 secondary schools
were the smallest in Wales.
There had been a compromise
at the Schools’ Budget Forum to share the remaining savings target of
£2,320,000 in accordance with the B option for cuts submitted to the Forum i.e.
£1,642,151 to the primary sector and £680,363 to the secondary sector, subject
to the following conditions:
·
To retain the
savings of £4.3m fixed for the next 3 years until 2018
·
That the schools
organisation savings are recycled to the savings target of £2,320,00 to
alleviate the schools cuts in 2018/19.
In response, Councillor Alwyn
Gruffydd referred to a recent ESTYN report on a primary school with 28 pupils
stating that the School gave value for money and it was felt that the Council
did not give sufficient consideration to this.
He stressed the need to know what the feelings were at a grassroots
level regarding the proposed cuts, and therefore this was an important matter
for scrutiny.
During the ensuing
discussion, the following points were highlighted by individual members:
·
It seemed that in
some areas teachers retired but were re-employed as supply teachers and this
deprived young people leaving Colleges from getting work
·
It was asked how
many schools were safeguarded
·
The size of
school balances in some schools was questioned and should this not be taken
into consideration
·
Would cuts have
an impact on the quality of education
In order to have a way
forward, it was suggested that the matter be considered further at the
preparatory meeting of this Scrutiny Committee on 15 December.
Resolved:
To request that the Head of Education submits the reports presented to
the Education Budget Forum to the preparatory meeting of the Scrutiny Committee
on 15 December, and to ensure that an appropriate officer is in attendance, to
respond to Members' queries regarding the budget. In addition, it would be useful to receive
examples of what impact the option B cut would have on small, medium and large
sized schools.