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Contact information

E-mail

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Telephone

0345 678 9000

Postal Address

Shropshire Council
Shirehall
Abbey Foregate
Shrewsbury
Shropshire
SY2 6ND

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Shirehall

Contact: Tim Ward  Committee Officer

Items
No. Item

60.

Apologies and Substitutions

To receive apologies for absence from Members of the Committee

Minutes:

60.1    Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Andy Boddington.

 

60.2    Councillor Roger Evans substituted for Councillor Boddington.

61.

Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

Members are reminded they must not participate in the discussion or vote on any matter in which they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and should leave the room prior to the commencement of the debate.

Minutes:

61.1    There were no disclosures of pecuniary interest.

62.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 81 KB

The minutes of the last meeting, held on 1 February 2017, are to follow.

Minutes:

62.1    The minutes of the meeting held on1 February 2017 had been circulated.

 

62.2    RESOLVED:

 

That the minutes of the meeting of the Young People’s Scrutiny Committee held on1 February be approved and signed by the Chairman as a true record.

63.

Public Question Time

To receive any public questions or petitions from the public, notice of which has been given in accordance with Procedure Rule 14.  The deadline for this meeting is 5.00pm on Monday 6 March 2017

 

Minutes:

63.1    There were no questions from members of the public

64.

Members' Question Time

To receive any questions of which Members of the Council have given notice.

 

Deadline for notification: 5.00pm on Monday 6 March 2017

 

Minutes:

64.1    There were no questions from Members.

65.

Schools Funding

To receive a presentation.

Minutes:

65.1    The Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services tabled a copy of a letter that he had sent to the Secretary of State for Education, following a meeting that he, the Director for Children’s Services and two head teachers had recently had with the Minister of State for School Standards.  He stressed that the aim of the letter was to reflect the discussion that had taken place at that meeting.  He thanked the two Head teachers who had attended the meeting who had put the case for Shropshire Schools very well.

 

65.2    The Portfolio Holder commented that as he saw it, there were 2 major issues: -

 

·         That there was not enough recognition of rurality in the funding formula

 

·         That there seemed to be excessive weighting on the disadvantaged, and that their seemed to be an element of doubling finding through the Pupil Premium and the money gained through the lump sum.

 

65.3    Several Members commented that the main problem was that there was a need for more funding, and requested that this be stressed within the response.

 

65.4    A Member commented that the 3% gains cap may hinder efforts to help the most affected schools

 

65.5    Members received a presentation (copy attached to signed minutes) which set out how the Funding Formula was calculated and the potential effect on Shropshire Schools.  Members were advised that under the new formula 58% of primary schools would receive increased funding but that only 35% of primary school pupils would be attending schools that received increased funding, and that for secondary schools it was 57% of schools and 55% of pupils would see an increase in funding.

 

65.6    Members made the following comments: -

 

·         That the funding for school is insufficient and should be increased.  Any adjustments that are made are just redistributing the existing money so increasing one type of funding will have an effect on other funding.

·         Not enough recognition is taken of the rurality and sparsity of Shropshire

·         The use of IDACI figures to measure deprivation may not give a true picture as they are based on post code areas which cover very large areas in some parts of Shropshire.

 

65.7    It was agreed that the presentation should be circulated to members of the Committee and that they should feed any comments back to Service Delivery Manager - Learning & Skills by Monday 13 March in order that he could prepare a response from the Committee.

 

65.8    It was also agreed that a letter should be sent to the Minister setting out the views of the Committee.

 

65.9    The Chairman thank the Chairman of the Schools Forum and Officer for all the work they had done.

66.

Date of Next meeting

Members are reminded that the next scheduled meeting of the Committee will be held on Wednesday 29 March 2017 at 10.00am

 

Minutes:

66.1    Members were reminded that the next meeting of the Young People’s Scrutiny Committee would be held on Wednesday 29 March 2017 at 10.00am

 

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