Agenda item

The Interim Corporate Director of Children and Young People’s Services submits a report that presents the current forecast additional costs of the Transforming Leicester’s Learning Plan (TLL) and the proposed sources of funding, for the period from Autumn 2007 to July / August 2009.  The Board is recommended to support the report and make any observations on the identified costs and the proposed funding package and advise on how it wishes to monitor the TLL spending.  

The Corporate Director of Children and Young People’s Services submitted a report that presented the current forecast additional costs of the Transforming Leicester’s Learning Plan (TLL) and the proposed sources of funding for the period from Autumn 2007 to July/August 2009.

The Head of Finance and efficiency introduced the paper to Members.  He explained that the strategy was overall designed to raise the achievement in schools and to offer direct support to pupils. 

The Board were informed that the latest cost estimate for the themes, project management and leadership and additional School Improvement Advisers until Summer 2009 was £6.7m, with an additional £1.5m anticipated for School Improvement work at “hard to shift” and other relevant schools. 

The Head of Finance and Efficiency explained to Members how each of the themes were to be financed.  He stated that the Authority’s General Fund could be used in addition to the Schools Block Budget for financing the strategy, but pointed out that the Schools Block Budget legally could not contribute to the funding of LEA costs.  It was therefore seen preferable to put as many of the resources as possible together into one funding package for the TLL in its entirety.  He further explained that a way round potential funding difficulties was for an additional £2.8m of Equal Pay Compensation costs to be funded form the Schools Block Reserves, so that the Council’s planned General Fund contribution to the Equal Pay Compensation could be applied to funding the TLL.  The Board heard that this proposal had been agreed by the Schools Forum. 

Councillor Dempster, Cabinet Lead Member for Children, Schools and Young People was in attendance and stated that it was important to increase short and medium term capacity in order to effectively transform education in Leicester.  In response to a question from a Member of the Board with regard to the role of consultants, Councillor Dempster stated that it was anticipated for consultants to work alongside existing staff, and once a higher level of expertise became embedded there would be less of a need for increased capacity.  Furthermore, in relation to the monitoring process of TLL, Councillor Dempster confirmed that the whole programme was project managed, which included representatives from schools and governor associations, and that this would lead to rigorous monitoring.

In response to a number of comments regarding the funding mechanism of TLL, the Head of Finance and Efficiency stated that it was not proposed to use all of the department’s under spend, and that careful monitoring would take place to ensure that any difficult financial situations were avoided. 

A Member of the Board commented that the 2008/09 forecasted costs were significantly higher than those predicted for 2009/10, and asked whether those activities funded during year one would continue.  The Head of Finance and Efficiency reported that it was planned to increase the amount of reserves invested into TLL at the end of the 2009 term, and that the process of allocating resources would need considering as a separate piece of work.  He added that it was intended to sustain the expenditure of 2008/09 annually in order to continue to make improvements. 

In response to a query from a member of the Board, it was agreed that a more detailed risk matrix would be inserted into the report for it’s submission to Cabinet, and that the Board would be presented with a report specifically in relation to the risk management of the strategy at a future meeting.

In general, Members supported the transforming agenda, and it was suggested that the TLL be placed as a standing item on future meetings of the Board.  Members supported the proposal. 

RESOLVED:

                        (1)            That the report be noted and supported. 

(2)That the Transforming Leicester’s Learning Plan (TLL) be placed as a standing item on future Overview and Scrutiny Management Board agendas.

(3)That a report providing specific detail on the risk management of the strategy be brought to a future meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board.