Issue - meetings

The action sheet arising from the meeting of the Education & Learning Scrutiny Committee held on 9th March, 2021 was submitted, whereupon:-

Grant funds awarded to the Education Directorate

It was noted that, due to an error, Appendix 2 would be replaced on the Modern.Gov system following the meeting.

With regard to Tranche funding, the Director of Education advised that he would liaise with finance colleagues and provide an update for Members.

A Member enquired why PDG funding was not listed on Appendix 2, the Director of Education explained that Appendix 2 only listed funding received directly from the Welsh Government as per the original request, the PDG was administered through the EAS. 

The Member felt that it was important to have information on the PDG’s funding as it was now assessed every 3 years and schools could see a significant decrease.  The Director of Education advised Members that information would be provided regarding PDG funding for the years 2019/20 and 2020/21 for the next meeting via the Action Sheet and reiterated that it was administered by the EAS regionally.  The Director explained that it was Welsh Government criteria that the PDG was issued through the regional consortia, however, the EAS used the information that was presented from the Council in relation to the number of pupils who were eligible for free school meals to determine the level of PDG issued to the Council.  There had been an increase in the number of learners eligible for free school meals and the number who were receiving direct payments was approximately 1,700.  The process was monitored weekly and application runs launched in line with requests from schools and liaising regularly with parents in order to meet the needs of the families.

A Member enquired if administration fees were taken from the grants listed.  The Director said the Welsh Government did offer a very small amount of funding for the administration of the grant.  The overall amount of delegated budget that was transferred directly to schools was approximately 86%.

The Chair referred to Appendix 1 and raised concern regarding the small amount of grants received for projects such as School Counselling and Schools Summer Activity Project.  The Director of Education clarified that this amount was in addition to the Welsh Government funding already received for the School Counselling service, it recognised the extra demand against the service and would complement the budget already received.  In relation to the £6,000 Schools Summer Activity Project this was linked to the School Holiday Enrichment Programme (SHEP) to support learners in school holiday periods.  The Education Transformation Manager would share the outcome report from last year’s initiative to demonstrate some of the work that had been undertaken.

The Committee AGREED, subject to the foregoing, that the action sheet be noted.