Agenda item

(To receive a report from Mark Popplewell, Head of Finance – Children's Services, which asks the Forum to consider and comment on the revised Lincolnshire Schools' Forum Constitution and Membership)

The Forum received a report from Mark Popplewell, Head of Finance – Children's Services, on the revised Lincolnshire Schools' Forum Constitution and Membership on which comments were invited.

As a result of changes introduced by Section 35 of the School and Early Years Finance (England) Regulations 2021 and the revised version of the Guidance issued March 2021, a review had taken place of the current Terms of Reference.  The current Terms of Reference and the proposed revised version had been included in the report.

To ensure that the Schools' Forum operated in accordance with legislation and Guidance the Schools' Forum was asked to endorse the revised document as shown at Appendix B for recommendation to the Executive Councillor for Children's Services who was responsible for the final decision.

The revised Terms of Reference comprised of seven sections:

1.      Constitution introduction indicating the statutory origins of the Forum and the regulations governing its operations.  This included revisions to refer to the School and Early Years Finance (England) Regulations 2021 which by virtue of Regulation 35 permitted meetings of the Forum to continue to take place on a virtual basis; notwithstanding that emergency Covid-19 arrangements permitting this for all local authority meetings had otherwise now ceased to have effect.

2.      Purpose and Role.  A new section and Appendix briefly describing the overall purpose and role of the Forum.

3.      The Functions of the Forum.  A re-written section and the creation of an Appendix setting out the decision-making powers of the Forum and those matters it was entitled to be consulted on as reflected current legislation and the Guidance.

4.      Composition.  A revised section explaining membership requirements and reflecting the principle explained in the Guidance that non-school members may only constitute 1/3 of the Forum total membership.  Also the requirement that Membership would be reviewed annually in June to ensure it was fully representative of different school sectors and in proportion to the number of children allocated to each sector.  Subsequent paragraphs then explained the membership nomination and election basis for school members (both maintained schools and academy schools) and non-school members.

5.      Conduct of Meetings.  This section was largely unchanged, other than to indicate that meetings may be held by remote means.

6.      Voting arrangements.  Paragraphs (a) to (c) were re-written to reflect current requirements explained in the Guidance.

7.      Administration of the Forum. Unchanged, save to indicate that meetings may be held at times to be agreed, rather than stipulating only 2pm.

The Chairman suggested that views from the Forum should be sought on preferences for how meetings were held going forwards.  At present meetings were being held via Teams however, the Council Chamber at the County Council was now able to offer face to face meetings and also a hybrid of face to face and Teams.  It was suggested that it may be worth considering whether a face to face meeting should be held for those meetings which considered reports which involved the more challenging decisions.

Dr Stephen Hopkins reported that the Department for Education had published two documents; one on the powers and responsibilities of School s' Forums and one on self-assessment checklists.  He suggested that the document on powers and responsibilities seemed to be a more clear and concise compared to the report submitted.  He suggested that it be circulated to the Forum and taken into account when further reports on the constitution were submitted in the future to the Forum. He suggested that the self-assessment checklist could be considered in order to ensure alignment the current procedures at a future meeting.

RESOLVED

1)      That the revised Lincolnshire's Schools' Forum Constitution and Membership document as detailed at Appendix B of the report be endorsed and be recommended to the Executive Councillor for Children's Services, Community Safety and Procurement for approval.

2)      That the Department for Education documents on powers and responsibilities of Schools' Forums and on self-assessment checklists be circulated to the Forum, and the self-assessment checklists be considered at a future meeting.