Agenda item

Report of the Chamberlain and the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Head of Finance introduced a joint report of the Chamberlain and the Director of Community and Children’s Services on the Education Board’s draft budget allocation for 2015/16. During discussion of the report the following points were made.

·         The Director of Community and Children’s Services noted that the City Academies would be required to submit proposals to the Education Board for consideration before funding was agreed. Members concurred with this point and made clear that a defined budget was not an authority to spend – therefore proposals for spending had to be fully justified.

·         The Chairman emphasised the report outlined budget allocations in draft form only, and that there remained flexibility. For example it was unlikely that the livery initiative would require the full [£50,000] allocated.  Members also queried why the Learning and Engagement Forum (LEF) would require a research fund.

·         The Chairman went on to note that it was important to give the City Academies certainty over their level of funding, particularly in light of the financial assistance afforded to the City’s independent schools.

·         In response to a member’s query over how much planning had been undertaken on the proposed Headteachers’ Conference, the Chairman noted that this was a matter for the LEF rather than the Education Board.

·         In light of the Board’s desire to commit to longer term funding proposals for the City Academies, the Assistant Town Clerk and the Director of Community and Children’s Services noted that the City Corporation had two open applications for free schools in Islington and Southwark, and that it was advisable for flexibility in the academy schools allocation to be maintained for future years. The Deputy Chairman suggested therefore that the draft allocation for 2015/16 be agreed with the understanding that longer term funding for the City Academies be revisited in the next financial year.

·         A member emphasised that spending should be explicitly linked to the objectives of the Education Strategy.

·         The Chairman took the opportunity to note that both City Academy Hackney and the City of London Academy Southwark were both building sixth form extensions and that it was likely they would require loans or other sources of finance.

RECEIVED