Agenda and minutes

Venue: This meeting will be held remotely. The meeting can be viewed live by pasting this link into your browser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtqjHRv3kuc&feature=youtu.be

Contact: Lara Knight / Michelle Salmon, Governance Services,  Tel: 024 7697 2642 / 2643, Email:  lara.knight@coventry.gov.uk /  michelle.salmon@coventry.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

60.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

61.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 210 KB

(a)  To agree the minutes from the meeting of Cabinet on 1st December 2020

 

(b)  Matters arising

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 15th December 2020 were agreed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

62.

The 2021/2022 Council Tax Base Report pdf icon PDF 433 KB

Report of the Director of Finance

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Finance which established the 2021/22 Council Tax base for tax setting purposes. Appendices to the report provided: Tax Base Calculation for 2021/22 Tax Setting (Coventry); Tax Base Calculation for 2021/22 Tax Setting (Allesley); Tax Base Calculation for 2021/22 Tax Setting (Finham); Tax Base Calculation for 2021/22 Tax Setting (Keresley); and Grant payments to parish councils

 

The Council Tax base was the measure of the taxable capacity of an area, for the purpose of calculating an authority's Council Tax.  It represented the estimated number of Band D equivalent chargeable dwellings for the year.  It also took into account the authority's estimated Council Tax collection rate.

 

This report did not set the actual level of Council Tax in Coventry, that would be set by Council at its meeting on the 23rd February 2021.

 

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

 

1)  Approves that the Council Tax collection rate for 2021/22 be set at 97.9%

 

2)  That, in accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Tax Base) Regulations 2012, the amounts calculated by the City Council for 2021/22 shall be:

 

  a net tax base of 82,717.1 for the whole of the City Council area made up as follows:

 

Allesley Parish

330.0

Finham Parish

1513.9

Keresley Parish

309.2

All Other Coventry City Council Wards

80,564.0

TOTAL

82,717.1

 

3)  That the following grant payments should be made to parish councils to reflect the impact in 2021/22 of Council Tax reductions on their tax bases:

 

Allesley Parish

£990

Finham Parish

£3,292

Keresley Parish

£1,391

TOTAL

£5,673

 

63.

Outcomes of the Fair Funding Consultations 2021-2022 pdf icon PDF 309 KB

Report of the Director of Education and Skills

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Education and Skills that set out the results of the consultation on proposed changes to the Fair Funding Scheme of Delegation ("the Scheme") and sought approval for recommended changes to the Scheme and the Fair Funding Formula. Appendices to the report provided: Fair Funding Consultation 2021-22: Summary of Responses; De-delegation levels approved for 2020-21; and Fair Funding Consultation 2021-22.

 

Under Section 48 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, Local Authorities (LAs) were required to have schemes of delegation which set out the financial controls and arrangements that would operate between schools and the LA. Any proposed revisions to these schemes and/or the Fair Funding Formula must be the subject of consultation and required approval by the Schools Forum.

 

The Department for Education (DFE) published the "Schools Revenue Funding 2021 to 2022: Operational Guide" which set out the school revenue funding arrangements for 2021-22.

 

The DFE introduced its National Funding Formula (NFF) for LAs in 2018-19, whereby allocations for LAs were determined under the NFF approach, but LAs retained control over how they chose to distribute that funding amongst their schools. In Coventry the decision since 2018-19 had been to mirror the NFF allocation for schools as far as possible. This had provided all schools with annual increases at least in line with the maximum per pupil funding increase set out in the NFF.

 

There had not been any significant changes to the operation of the local school funding formula for 2021-22; with the main changes aimed at providing flexibility to allow LAs to deliver the Funding Floor (a net +2.00% per pupil funding increase compared with 2020-21) as set out in the NFF details of which were set out in section 2 of the report. The report proposed to make some corresponding changes to the funding formula and sought approval of the Fair Funding Scheme of Delegation.

 

The consultation document was circulated on the 8th November 2020 to Head Teachers including Academy Head Teachers/Principals, Chairs of Governing Bodies, relevant Councillors, Trade Unions, Diocesan authorities, the Coventry Governors Association, members of the Schools Forum and Early Years Free Entitlement providers in the private, voluntary and Independent sectors. The consultation period ended after 2 weeks on the 22nd November 2020.

 

Stakeholder groups were briefed throughout the consultation period. These included Primary Finance representative head teachers and the Schools Forum. The consultation document also sought to act as an information document to school stakeholders regarding anticipated local budget pressures.

 

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

 

1)  Approves the recommended changes to the Fair Funding Formula and Fair Funding Scheme of Delegation, which are summarised in section 3 of the report.

 

2)  Delegates authority to the Director of Education and Skills, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, to make any necessary amendments to the final detail of these recommended changes, in order to comply with the School Finance (England) Regulations 2020 once full detail of the schools funding settlement  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.

64.

Outstanding Issues

There are no outstanding issues

Minutes:

There were no outstanding issues.

65.

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

Minutes:

There were no other items of public business.