Report of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services)

This report sets out the priorities for the services in the remit of this committee and details the initial revenue budget changes proposed by officers. Each scrutiny committee is invited to consider the current proposed changes which are within its remit and to make recommendations to the Executive before it agrees to the final budget proposals in February 2024.

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services which set out the priorities for the services in the remit of the Committee and detailed the initial revenue budget changes proposed by officers.   The Committee was invited to consider the current proposed changes which were within its remit and to make recommendations to the Executive before it agreed to the final budget proposals in February 2024.

Key points and themes in the report included:

·         Service overview and priorities;

·         Service budget and proposed changes;

·         Use of reserves;

·         Grants;

·         Commissioning and procurement priorities;

·         Workforce implications; and

·         Equality and anti-poverty impact.

The Head of Finance (Children, Education and Schools) informed the Committee that, since the report had been published, officers were no longer considering consulting with schools on a 0.5% transfer from the school block to support High Needs Block pressures for the next financial year, although it might be something that would need to be considered in 2025/26.

In response to a question from the Chair, the Director of Education confirmed to the Committee that the Council was continuing to claw back money from schools with excessive budget surpluses in order to support the High Needs Block.

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People supported the earlier comments made by the Executive Member for Finance and Resources, under the previous budget item. and also expressed concern at profiteering in children’s placements, the Government’s handling of Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children and the lack of funding for school buildings; however, he welcomed that Manchester had managed to reduce its number of Looked After Children and had a more stable workforce than other areas. 

The Chair highlighted the progress that had been made since 2014, including the valuable role of edge of care services, while expressing concern at the cuts to Council budgets.  She stated that the level of cuts was unsustainable and that it was having a negative impact on children and families who were also being badly affected by Universal Credit cuts, increasing heating bills, rising rents and the cost-of-living crisis.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

·         To welcome the focus on early intervention and cost avoidance;

·         To express concern that deprived areas of the country were most affected by budget cuts;

·         To thank officers for their outstanding work, in the face of significant cuts;

·         Concern about school budgets, in particular how schools would manage to fund the agreed pay rise out of their existing budgets; and

·         The importance of ensuring that as far as possible Manchester children were placed through providers which shared the Council’s values and were not profiteering.

In response to a request for clarification on workforce implications, the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services reported that there were no workforce implications from the budget proposals but that a lot of funding came from grants which were for a limited period of time, which presented a risk and challenge for the service to manage.

In response to the question on ethical providers, the Deputy Director of Children’s Services explained how values and behaviours were built into the Sufficiency Strategy, with mechanisms to support that.  He reported that the need for changes in the market was also recognised in the Government’s Stable Homes, Built on Love strategy.

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People advised Members that, having to fund the agreed pay rise out of existing budgets, as well as dealing with inflation, effectively represented a budget cut for schools.  He also expressed concern that the Department for Education had miscalculated its school settlement for Manchester so at short notice Manchester schools had been informed that they would receive £3.8 million less than they had anticipated. 

The Director of Education informed the Committee that the miscalculation was due to an error on pupil numbers.  She reported that in a small primary school the difference would be approximately £1000 and for the biggest secondary schools it would be around £94,000.  She advised Members that a report on this would be considered by the Schools Forum.

The Executive Member for Finance and Resources shared the Member’s concern that urban, deprived areas had been disproportionately affected by Government cuts, stating that if Manchester had received a fair settlement, it would be £70 million per year better off and that he wanted Manchester to be treated fairly be the next Government.

The Chair noted that the Committee would receive a further budget report in February 2024.

Decision

To note the report.