Constitution

 

Constitution Of The Vale Of Glamorgan Council's Schools Budget Forum

 

1.         MEMBERSHIP

1.1       Size of the forum

 

1.1.1   The Schools budget forum must have a minimum of 15 members to ensure that the membership of the forum is not too limited and the interests of schools are properly represented.

1.1.2   The forum needs to be kept to a manageable size in order to facilitate constructive discussions. In view of this, the Vale of Glamorgan’s Schools Budget Forum will have a maximum of 20 members.

1.1.3   Section 47A of the Schools Standards and Framework Act 1998, describes school forums as representing the views of governing bodies and headteachers. The majority of the forum therefore will be made up   of school members who are elected to represent governing bodies or headteachers of maintained schools.

1.1.4   Given that the majority of Members of the forum must be ‘school members’ the regulations stipulate that no more than 25% of the forum can be made up of non-school members.

1.2       Election and Appointment of School Members

1.2.1   School members must be headteachers or governors but there is no  requirement to have an equal number of each. In order to ensure as many schools as possible are represented on the forum where possible, governor representatives and headteacher representatives  should not be from the same school.

 

1.2.2       School members will be nominated by the Vale School Governors Association and relevant headteacher groups.

 

1.2.3       The Vale of Glamorgan’s Schools Budget Forum will have at least one schools member in the following categories:

• Community special schools
• Foundation schools
• Voluntary aided and voluntary controlled schools
• Welsh medium schools

1.2.4   At least one schools member should be a parent governor.

 

1.3       Appointment of Non-Schools Members

 

1.3.1   The 25% limit referred to in 1.1.4 includes representatives of the authority. The only representatives of the local authority who have voting rights on the schools forum are those included as part of the non–schools membership.

1.3.2.  The composition of the non-schools membership will include representation from the local authority and teaching or other trade unions with members in Wales.

1.3.3.  Regulations require that the local authority notifies all of its maintained schools of the details of any non-schools members appointed to the schools forum within one month of the appointment taking place. As a matter of good practice the authority will also notify its maintained schools of school members appointed to the forum.

 

1.4       Substitute Members

 

Members are able to nominate a substitute to attend meetings of the Schools Budget Forum in their absence.  

 

1.5       Term of Office

 

1.5.1   The period of office for both schools and non-schools members is 3 years.

 

1.5.2   School members and non school members will have their appointment and term of office confirmed in writing.

 

 

1.6       Removal of Members from the Schools Forum

 

1.6.1   If a schools member no longer holds the position of headteacher or governor of the school by virtue of which they became eligible for appointment to the forum, their appointment will be terminated.

1.6.2       In the case of non-schools members their appointment will end if they cease to meet the eligibility criteria by virtue of which they were nominated to the forum.

 

1.7       Composition of the Vale of Glamorgan’s Schools Funding Forum

 

Representation	Number	Nominating Body
School Members	16
Secondary Schools Headteachers   Secondary School Governors     Primary School Headteachers   Primary School Governors     Special School Headteacher or governor   Welsh Medium Secondary or Primary Headteacher or governor   Foundation school Headteacher or Governor   Voluntary aided/voluntary controlled Headteacher or Governor	3     3     3   3     1     1       1     1	Headteacher Cluster Groups     Vale School Governors Association   Headteacher Cluster Groups   Vale School Governors Association   Special School Cluster Group     Welsh Medium Cluster Group       Secondary Headteacher Cluster group Diocesan Representatives
Non School Members	5
Trade Unions   Cabinet Member for Learning Development   Learning and Development Scrutiny Member   Head of Strategic Planning and Performance	2   1     1     1	Education Consultative Committee       Learning and Development Scrutiny Committee
Ex Officio Members:   Director of Learning and Development   Other Local Authority officers will attend the Forum in an advisory capacity
Every effort should be taken to ensure balanced representation across the 3 school clusters

 

2.         MEETINGS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE SCHOOLS BUDGET FORUM

 

2.1             Frequency of Meetings

2.1.1   Meetings of the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s Schools Budget Forum  will take place at least twice a term.

 

2.2       Location of Meetings

 

2.2.1   Meetings of the Forum will be held in the Council’s Civic Offices unless an alternative location is put forward and agreed by the Forum.

2.3       Sub Committees   

 

2.3.1   Sub committees of the Forum may be established but any advice from sub committees must be formally approved by the Schools Budget Forum prior to it being formally passed to the LEA.

 

2.4       Work Programme

2.4.1   An annual work programme will be determined in consultation with Forum Members. The work programme will be reviewed at each Forum meeting and revised to incorporate requests from Members. 

2.5       Administration

 

2.5.1   All administration for the Forum will be carried out by the LEA. This includes arranging meetings, issuing papers and recording meetings.

2.6       Conflict of Interest

 

2.6.1   Members of the Forum will be required to make declarations of interest when relevant. For example there may be cases where a conflict of interest occurs when the forum is considering matters relating to service contracts.

 

2.7       Voting

 

2.7.1   Matters will be decided by a simple majority of those Members voting and present in the room at the time the question was put.

 

2.7.2   If there are equal numbers of votes for and against, the Chair will have a second or casting vote. There will be no restriction on how the Chair chooses to exercise a casting vote.

 

2.8       Quorum

2.8.1   Given the importance of identifying the collective view of the Schools Budget Forum on the issues it considers, the regulations specify a quorum of 40% for meetings. There is nothing to stop the Forum from meeting if it is inquorate but it will be up to the LEA whether it chooses to take into account of any advice given by the Forum in these circumstances.

2.7.2   Given the frequency of the Schools Budget Forum meetings and the importance of the issues being discussed substitute members can be included in the quorum. 

 

2.8       Chair of the Schools Budget Forum

The chair of the Schools Budget Forum should be nominated by the Forum itself. The chair initially holds office for one year but may be re-appointed.

2.9       Vice Chair of the Budget Forum

The Vice Chair of the Schools Budget Forum should be nominated by the Forum itself. The Vice Chair initially holds office for one year but may be re-appointed.

2.10    Observer Status

The LEA can invite other organisations or bodies to attend meetings of the Schools Budget Forum as observers if it considers it appropriate to do so.

 

3         FUNCTIONS OF THE SCHOOLS FORUM  

 

3.1       The authority is required to consult the Schools Budget Forum annually on their schools budget. The authority can also consult the forum, as it sees fit, on any other matters concerning the funding of schools.

 

3.2       The authority has to consult the Schools Funding Forum on any proposed revisions to its Scheme for Financing Schools. Consultation with the Schools Budget Forum is additional to the statutory requirement to consult governing bodies and headteachers on revisions to the scheme on an individual basis.

3.3       The authority must consult the Schools Budget Forum on any proposed           changes to the factors and criteria to be taken into account, or the methods, principles and rules to be adopted, in relation to its formula for funding schools. This includes consultation on the likely financial effect of any changes to the funding formula. Consultation must be carried out in sufficient time to allow the Forum’s views to be taken into account in the determination of the authority’s formula and in the determination of the schools’ budget shares before the start of the financial year.

 

3.4       The LEA must consult the Schools Budget Forum on contracts for supplies and services that exceed the prescribed threshold for procurement. The current threshold for local authorities is £154,477. To ensure the authority receives the view of the schools forum before finalising the specifications of the contract, the regulations specify that the authority must consult the Forum at least three months prior to the issue of invitations to tender

3.5       The regulations stipulate that the Schools Budget Forum must also be consulted on service level agreements for the supply of goods and services by the authority to schools. Again, the LEA must consult the forum at least three months before the date on which the agreement is due to be finalised.

 

4.         REPORTS TO SCHOOLS

 

4.1       As the Schools Budget Forum represents all maintained schools within the authority the regulations specify that the forum must inform the governing bodies of all schools of all consultations that are carried out.  The following methods will be used for the feedback of information:

• Circulation of minutes to all schools
• Posting of minutes and papers to the Council’s website
• Briefings in the Vale Governors’ Newsletter
• Briefings to the Headteacher groups as and when relevant