Agenda, decisions and minutes

See guidance below.

There were none.

Any county councillor may, by giving notice to the Proper Officer by 9 am two working days before the meeting, ask a question on any matter in respect of the Cabinet Member’s delegated powers.

The number of questions which may be asked by any councillor at any one meeting is limited to two (or one question with notice and a supplementary question at the meeting) and the time for questions will be limited to 30 minutes in total. As with questions at Council, any questions which remain unanswered at the end of this item will receive a written response.

Questions submitted prior to the agenda being despatched are shown below and will be the subject of a response from the appropriate Cabinet Member or such other councillor or officer as is determined by the Cabinet Member, and shall not be the subject of further debate at this meeting. Questions received after the despatch of the agenda, but before the deadline, will be shown on the Schedule of Addenda circulated at the meeting, together with any written response which is available at that time.

There were none.

Members of the public who wish to speak at this meeting can attend the meeting in person or ‘virtually’ through an online connection.

Requests to speak must be submitted by no later than 9am four working days before the meeting.  Requests to speak should be sent to committeesdemocraticservices@oxfordshire.gov.uk .

If you are speaking ‘virtually’, you may submit a written statement of your presentation to ensure that if the technology fails, then your views can still be taken into account. A written copy of your statement can be provided no later than 9 am 2 working days before the meeting. Written submissions should be no longer than 1 A4 sheet.

There were none.

Cabinet Member: Children, Education and Young People’s Services

Forward Plan Ref: 2024/360

Contact: Jane Billington, Strategic Finance Business Partner – Children’s Services (Jane.Billington@oxfordshire.gov.uk)

Report by Director of Children’s Services (CMDCEYPS5).

The Chair of Council has agreed that this item will be exempt from Scrutiny call-in.

The Cabinet Member is RECOMMENDED to

a)    Approve the final funding formula for 2025/26 for submission to DfE

This follows consultation with the Schools Forum which agreed that OCC will continue to fund schools at the National Funding Formula level. Any surplus funding as a result of the application of the APT will be used to support mainstream schools in their approaches to inclusion.

The Chair noted that there was a meeting of the School’s Forum on 20 January to discuss this matter and remarked that it was no longer the case that the national funding formula was sufficient to provide a surplus or even match required funding for Oxfordshire schools.

Jane Billington clarified

-       The formula applied equally to both maintained schools and academies.

-       This decision applied only to maintained primary and secondary schools.

-       Funding would be made available separately for special needs, high needs, and early years.

The Chair said he was seriously concerned that the Council, having adopted the prescribed formula earlier than necessary, found itself in a position by which funding received from the Department for Education was not sufficient to meet the formula. He added that he did not want a trend to develop by which councils would be expected to fund schools in the future.

The Chair APPROVED the recommendations.

ecommendations approved.