Minutes:
The following questions, received under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5) were put to the Chairman of the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee:
(a)
Mrs A Hack CC asked the following question of the Chairman of
the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee:
Pupil
Premium is a top up provided for schools for each child who receives a Free
School Meal (FSM) at a rate of £1,345 a year for Primary School Children and
£955 pre secondary school children. This premium is calculated in October and
January each year. However, in 2021, schools have been denied access to
apply for Pupil premium for any child that became eligible from October 2020 to
Jan 2021. In light of the reported figures, that almost 62% of
schools have seen at least 5 pupils become eligible for FSM, how many children
in Leicestershire became eligible for a Free School Meal from October 2020 to
January 2021?
Mrs
H Fryer CC replied as follows:
The DfE changed the way it allocates pupil premium from the January
census to the October census to be in line with school funding in general.
Between October 2020 and January 2021 an additional 596 FSM pupils in primary
and 157 secondary pupils became eligible.
Supplementary Question
Mrs Hack CC asked a supplementary question in relation to over 750
children becoming eligible for free school meals from October 2020 to January
2021, which seemed like an unprecedented increase in the cohort. What representations have been made by
Leicestershire County Council to the DfE to delay the change in the
calculation?
At the invitation of the Chairman, the Director of Children and Family
Services replied to the effect that the Lead Member for Children and Families
had recently written to the DfE and local MPs to raise the issue
nationally. The issue had also been
raised directly with the DfE department via the Association of Directors of
Children’s Services, where it was discussed on a regualr
basis.
(b) Mrs A Hack CC asked the following question of the Chairman of the
Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee:
In light of the change of timing for schools to apply for Pupil Premium, what is the current estimated loss per school in Leicestershire due to the change in calculation?
Mrs
H Fryer CC replied as follows:
Schools don’t apply for Pupil Premium, it is self-generated allocation
from the census day. The total monies not allocated, due to the move to using
the October census data is a total of £801,620 across all Leicestershire
primary schools and £149,935 across all Leicestershire secondary schools.
Supplementary Question
Mrs Hack CC asked a supplementary question in relation to the fact that in
the original question, it was requested that the funding loss, which is almost
£1m in Leicestershire, was estimated per school and whether this was
available. If not, it was asked whether
Councillors could receive the total loss for the schools based in their
divisions?
At the invitation of the Chairman, the Director of Children and Family
Services responded that a breakdown for each school was not currently available
as it would be a relatively big piece of work to undertake. However, the Director stated that if members
did want to understand the impact for their schools, they should contact her
directly.
(c) Mrs A Hack CC asked the following question of the Chairman of the
Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee:
In light of Covid, there has been an earlier response than in 2020 to the management of all Exams. There is an expectation that schools will do most of the work on assessments, rather than the exam boards. Schools pay for Exam fees of approximately £60 per BTEC/Alevel and £30-£40 per GCSE and there is no current agreement on refunds (total refunds for 2020 was £42m). With schools currently being obliged to pay for exams and also being obliged to undertake teacher assessments, what support is being given to plug the financial/workload gap?
Mrs
H Fryer CC replied as follows:
Almost all Leicestershire Secondary Schools are academies and therefore
the local authority is not directly involved in their funding – this would be
between the ESFA and the academies. The Leicestershire Education Effectiveness
Partnership has developed a support offer to schools to assist in the
moderation of centre assessed grades.