Meeting Type:	Advisory
Sitting members:
	Martin Curtis	Conservative
	Peter Downes	Liberal Democrat
	David Harty	Conservative
	Gail Kenney	Conservative

Democratic Services Officer:	Michelle Rowe
Democratic Services Officer email:	Michelle Rowe

Terms of Reference:

CONSTITUTION OF THE SCHOOLS’ FORUM

Updated February 2008 to reflect the Schools’ Forums (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2008.

National regulations govern the composition, constitution and procedures of Schools’ Forums. These can be accessed at: -
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/schoolfunding/schoolsforums/

This document is divided into 3 sections:-
A Terms of Reference of the Cambridgeshire Schools’ Forum
B Membership of the Cambridgeshire Schools’ Forum
C Operating Conventions of the Cambridgeshire Schools’ Forum

(A) TERMS OF REFERENCE OF THE CAMBRIDGESHIRE SCHOOLS’ FORUM

To formally approve:-

· Any exceptions to the School Finance (England) Regulations 2006

· The funding formula for schools

· The allocation of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) including distribution between phases

· Schedule 2 budgets including Early Years education, PRUs, education out of school

· Any top-slices from Individual Schools Budget

· Arrangements for the allocation of central government grants paid to LA for the use of schools

· Arrangements for the funding of free school meals

· The administration and financial health of the Schools in Partnership Fund

· The terms of any proposed contract for supplies or services to be entered into by the LA on behalf of schools and being a contract paid or to be paid out of the authority’s schools budget

· Management of any contingency budgets

· Any other matter concerning the funding of schools as Forum sees fit.

· Variations to the minimum funding guarantee (affecting up to 50% of schools)

· Oversee and agree the operation of the School balance control mechanism
To be consulted on the following:-

· The development of the Council’s IPP (Integrated Planning Process) including proposed capital plans.

· Children’s Services budgets not funded by DSG

· Children’s Trusts / Every Child Matters issues

Status of the Forum

The Forum is a non-executive body established to take decisions on a range of issues relating to the funding of schools.

Meetings of the Forum will be open to the public except for any confidential matters, which will be discussed within a closed meeting. Where a report is classified as “Confidential”, the Forum, with appropriate officer advice, will be asked at the meeting to determine its future status. The agenda, supporting papers and minutes of the Forum meetings shall be made available via the Council’s Internet.

(B) MEMBERSHIP OF THE CAMBRIDGESHIRE SCHOOLS’ FORUM

Composition

The Forum shall comprise 18 members who shall be Headteachers, Governors or Early Years representatives drawn from the schools/partnerships in the Cambridgeshire Local Authority area.

Schools Members

Schools’ Forums Regulations state that the number of representatives for each phase should be proportionate to the ratio of pupils in each phase.

Cambridgeshire Schools’ Forum comprises 17 schools members drawn from schools in Cambridgeshire.

A) Primary Headteachers

6 members shall be elected by the Cambridgeshire Primary Heads Group

B) Secondary Headteachers

5 members shall be elected by the Cambridgeshire Secondary Heads Group

One secondary school member of Cambridgeshire Schools’ Forum to be identified to represent 14-19 Partnerships from within the existing number of secondary school members.


C) Special School Headteacher

1 member shall be elected by the Special Heads Group

D) Nursery School Representative

1 member shall be elected by Nursery School Head-teachers

E) Governors

4 Governor representatives shall be elected by the Governors Advisory Group. As far as possible governor membership should be representative of the various phases.

Election and Nomination of Schools Members

Support can be requested from County Council Democratic Services by Heads Groups or Governor Groups to help manage their election processes.

At a minimum the Clerk of the Schools’ Forum must make a record of the process by which the constituents of each group elect their nominees to the Schools’ Forum. Any election scheme must take into account the following factors:

· The process for collecting names of those wishing to stand for election.
· The timescale for notifying all constituents of the election and those standing.
· The arrangements for dispatching and receiving ballots.
· The arrangements for counting and publicising the results.
· Any arrangements for unusual circumstances such as only one candidate standing in an election or where there is a tie between two or more candidates.
· Whether existing members can stand for re-election.

Every possible eligible member of a constituency must have an opportunity to be involved in the determination of their group’s election process and is given the opportunity to stand for election if they choose to do so.

Non-School Members

A representative of the Early Years Reference Group will have full voting rights within the Forum. This representative will be elected by the Group and a record of the appointment process will be held by the Clerk of Schools’ Forum.

Substitute Members

Nominating groups may appoint two substitute members for each sector type. These members will receive agendas and minutes for all meetings. Notification of a named substitute member must be made in writing or by email to the Clerk. Substitute members may attend meetings after notifying the Clerk of the intended substitution before the start of the meeting either verbally or in writing. Substitute members must be elected on the same basis as the substantive members. Substitute members will have full voting rights when taking the place of the ordinary member for whom they are designated substitute.

In instances where the named substitutes are also unavailable then other eligible representatives can be substitutes and should be notified to the Clerk before the meeting starts.

Participation of Observers

Observers shall be invited to attend Forum meetings. Observers may participate in debate but will not have voting rights should any business of the Forum require a vote. The following groups shall be asked if they would like to nominate an observer (and a named substitute) to the Forum:

· Learning and Skills Council (regulatory requirement)
· Representatives of Faith Bodies
· Early Years
· Representative from the union membership of the teachers’ JCNG group
· Representative from the union membership of the non-teaching JCNG group.
· Cabinet Member for Children and the Cabinet Member for Learning
· Opposition Spokesmen for Children’s Services

County Council Officers

Officers may attend forum meetings in an advisory capacity only.

Term of Office

The term of office for members of the Cambridgeshire Schools Forum is unlimited providing they are re-elected every 4 years by the group they represent.

As well as the term of office coming to an end, a schools member ceases to be a member of the Schools’ Forum if he or she resigns from the Forum or no longer occupies the office which he or she was nominated to represent.

(C) OPERATING CONVENTIONS OF THE CAMBRIDGESHIRE SCHOOLS FORUM

Ordinary meetings

An ordinary meeting of the Forum shall be held, at a minimum, once every half term.

Notice of Meetings

Meetings of the Forum shall be convened by the Local Authority, who will also arrange the clerking and recording of meetings (a member of the County Council’s Democratic Services Team will act as Clerk). Items for consideration by the Forum shall be submitted to the Clerk no later than 10 working days prior to the meeting.


Chairman and Vice-Chairman

The Forum will elect a Chairman and Vice-Chairman from the school members of the Forum. The term of office is one year, but with the prospect of annual re-election.

Quorum

The Forum shall be quorate if at least 40% of the total membership is present (this excludes observers and vacancies).

Voting

Each Member shall have only one vote. Voting shall be by show of hands. If there are equal numbers of votes for and against, the Chairman will have a second or casting vote. There will be no restriction on how the Chairman chooses to exercise a casting vote.

Sub-Committees and Working Groups

The Forum may have sub-committees or working groups. The Forum shall receive reports from the sub-committees or working groups to approve formally.

Declarations of Interest

Any Member of the Forum who has an interest in any proposal beyond the generality of the group they represent or in which they might have a personal or prejudicial interest in, shall declare the interest at the beginning of the relevant item. The member can explain any issues to the meeting and then must leave the meeting until the item is finished. The member cannot vote on that item.

Where it is clear that a decision in which a member has such an interest is likely to arise at a particular meeting, the member concerned may invite a substitute member (with no interest to declare) in accordance with the constitution to attend that meeting in their place.

Elected Members are subject to the governance of the County Council’s Code of Conduct.


Status of Reports

All report authors will be responsible for informing Democratic Services in advance of the status of reports to be included on the agenda. Reports must fall into one of two categories set out below:

Category	Status	Circulation limit following the Forum
Non-Confidential	Ordinary Forum	To be made available to schools via the Council’s intranet.
Confidential	Sensitive confidential information	Forum Members, lead officers and report authors only Reports to be marked accordingly

Where a report is classified as “Confidential”, the Forum, with appropriate officer advice, will be asked at the meeting to determine its future status.

Expenses

The LA shall maintain a small budget for expenses relating to the operation of the Forum from the Schools Funding Block with any underspend returned to the block.

The Local Authority shall reimburse the reasonable expenses of school members of the Forum when members submit appropriate claims, in connection with attendance at meetings. Supply cover should only be claimed when it has been necessary to employ a supply cover teacher to enable the Head Teacher to attend the Forum. Travel expenses should be claimed at the standard County Council rates.

Interpretation of the Constitution

The Chairman or person presiding at the meeting shall be the final arbiter regarding the interpretation of the Forum’s constitution.

The constitution shall be interpreted in conjunction with relevant provisions contained in legislation relating to the Forum’s proceedings. The requirements of legislation will prevail in the event of there being any inconsistency between the legislation and the constitution.

Amendment of the Constitution

With the exception of matters subject to legislative provision or approval by the authority, the Forum may vary its constitution by a simple majority vote by the members provided that prior notice of the nature of the proposed variation is made and included on the agenda for the meeting.


Publicity relating to the Schools’ Forum

The Local Authority is responsible for putting the agenda, reports and minutes of the Schools’ Forum on the Cambridgeshire County Council website and generally drawing it to the attention of schools, head-teachers and governors.