Councillors and committees

Issue - meetings

Members' Questions

Meeting: 01/06/2021 - Cabinet (Item 100)

100 Members' Questions pdf icon PDF 189 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

There was one member question. The question and response were published as a supplement to the agenda.

 

Minutes:

There was one member question. The question and response were published as a supplement to the agenda. Mr Forster attended the meeting and thanked the Cabinet Member for the response. Mr Forster asked that the Cabinet Member strengthen the response to his second question asking Cabinet to write to government opposing the changes. With regards to the response to the third question, it was asked if a response from government could be shared with full council. The Cabinet Member for Education and Learning explained that it was the Department for Education’s rationale to align core funding and pupil premium and to do this they had brought forward the date at which the Pupil Premium count takes place from January 2021 to October 2020. The impact of Covid 19 had seen many more families become eligible for free school meals and pupil premium.  These children would not be counted now until October 2021 and there will be an inevitable lag in funding. This issue was first raised nationally by the BBC in their reports on 13 March 2021. There had been a wide range of lobbying through national bodies including teaching unions, the LGA and the Association for Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS).  The county council had lobbied via the LGA and ADCS. The matter had directly been raised with the Department for Education in routine meetings and forums. The change sat within a wider set of pressures for schools in terms of financial planning.  While in Surrey we are receiving a net cash increase in funding through the Dedicated Schools Grant via the National Funding Formula the increase does not keep pace with real terms growth in recent years.