Agenda item

1.         The Committee considered the Children, Families and Education Directorate’s Draft Budget proposals set out in the Draft Budget 2008-09 and the Draft Medium Term Plan 2008-2011 and also a report circulated with the agenda which specifically related to the key areas of these documents for Children, Families and Education Directorate. 

2.         Mr Carter, Mr Dance, Mr Wells, Mr Badman, Mr Abbott and Mr Ward answered questions from Members which included the following issues:-

(a)       Income 2008-09

3.         In a response to a question from Mr Law on why the income for the two portfolios had not grown in comparison with the gross figure for funding, Mr Abbott briefly explained that one of the key issues with the Dedicated Schools Grant was that the creation of academies reduced this figure.  Mr Abbott undertook to supply a detailed response to this.

(b)       Council Tax

5.         In response to a question from Mr Law, Mr Abbott explained that the majority of funding for education came from the Dedicated School’s Grant and therefore there was no top up from the Council Tax.

(c)        Dedicated Schools Grant

6.         In response to questions from Mr Vye, Mr Abbott confirmed that in relation to the Dedicated Schools Grant for the next three years, officers had been advising schools for over a year that this round of funding would be challenging.  He stated that the teachers pay award would probably mean a 3%-4% increase on the pay bill which may vary locally.  Mr Abbott went on to explain that the Ministerial Priorities money would be directed to schools in line with DCSF aims.  He expressed the view that the funding for schools would be tighter in 2009/10 than during 2008/09 and he anticipated the need to work with schools to make sure that they did not go into deficit in the second year.

7.         Mr Dance stated that the Schools Funding Forum was still considering how funds were to be divided and he undertook to let Members have the information from the Forum when it was available.  In relation to Ministerial Priorities, he stated that these were more flexible this year which was helpful.

8.         Mr Badman expressed disappointment that the Ministerial Priorities funding was not hypothecated as it was an important tool to drive change. 

(d)       Strategic Management and Managing Directors Office and Democratic Services

9.         In response to a question from Mr Hart, in relation to the figures for Strategic Management for 2008-09 of £1.8m on page 6 of the Budget Book and Managing Director’s Office and Democratic Services of £1.949m on page 13 of the Budget Book, Mr Abbott explained that the Senior Management Team figure in the budget for Cabinet Members support, Occupational Health recharge to support schools.  As part of the Revenue Budget Medium Term Plan process, officers were always looking for options for savings and as part of the normal monitoring process, these back office areas were particularly kept under review.

10.       Mr Wells stated that Members had to bear in mind the size of the educational operation which was run and supported in Kent.  He stated that he believed that in relation to the size of the budget, the figure for strategic management was not out of proportion.

(e)       Development Opportunities

11.       In response to a question from Mr Newman relating to how much of Capital Receipts arising from the sale of school land went to the school.  Mr Ward explained that 100% of the money made from these sales (excluding fees and charges) went to the specific school to reinvest.  He informed Members that in the past schools had the luxury of being able to borrow money from the local authority to enable them to replace facilities before the disposal of land took place.  This was in effect an interest free loan to the school. There was now an expectation that if money needed to be borrowed in relation to the scheme, interest would be changed to the school or the local authority as relevant.

(f)         Sponsorship of Academies

12.       In response to a question from Mr Newman, Mr Ward referred Members to page 11 of the Budget Book which listed the different levels of sponsorship for the academies.

13.       In response to a question from Mr Maddison on Dartford College Campus and the joint working between the Children, Families and Education Directorate and Communities Directorate in relation to the youth facility remaining on the site, Mr Carter confirmed that the new school would be happy to share their facilities when they were completed.  He stated that 100% of the capital receipt from the Youth Centre site would to go to Communities Directorate.  It had been difficult to find a solution for the Youth and Community Centre and therefore the development of the school had to go ahead without this being resolved.

(g)       Broadband Connectivity

14.       In response to a question from Mr Harrison, Mr Ward confirmed that the Government grant for Broadband Connectivity had changed and it was no longer necessary for matched funding to be provided.  Funding had been made available to the authority to offer a core free broadband package to all schools.  KCC had decided that to offer all schools a free core broadband service with the option to pay extra for more capacity. Therefore, to the school this level of service was provided free by KCC utilising a Government grant of approximately £5m per annum.

(h)        Events Officer

15.       In response to a question from Mr Harrison, on the dedicated events office support that the Directorate had rather than using the Corporate Events team, Mr Badman gave details of the level of conference’s that the Directorate supported which required dedicated support.

(i)         Academy Projects – Page 11 – Budget Book

16.       In response to a question from Mr Desmoyers-Davis, Mrs Hodges replied that the process for establishing an academy was defined by the DCSF and no decision would be made on the establishment of any academy until the consultation and feasibility process had been carried out.  There was no guarantee that the academy would be established until the Minister actually signed the funding agreement.  Mr Ward stated that as the authority was aware of various proposals to establish academies that were going through their feasibility stage and therefore it was prudent to include provision for these in the budget.

(j)         Portfolio Plans

17.       In response to Mrs Angell, Mr Wells stated that he would look with his Cabinet colleague at ensuring that reference to the Every Child Matters outcomes, was reflected in both of the CF&E portfolio statements in the Medium Term Plan.

(k)        Children Centres/Sure Start Funding

18.       In response to a question from Mrs Angell relating to funding for the nine existing Sure Start Centres, Mr Wells stated that the original nine Sure Start Centres were well funded by Government and KCC was currently in a transition period of moving to a large number of children’s centres which would not so generously funded as the original Centres.  Mr Badman stated that as there were other children’s centres in the area of the original Sure Start Centres, it was appropriate to spread the funding across all of the centres which would deliver integrated services including, for example, advice from the Department of Works and Pensions.  Mr Badman mentioned that the Council had put £7m into the budget in addition to the Capital Grant received from Government to provide children’s centres

19.       RESOLVED

(1)       that the Budget 2008-09 and Medium Term Plan 2008-09 to 2010-11 for the Children, Families and Education Directorate be noted along with the responses made to the questions from Members.