Issue - meetings

(i)       to note the responses from the Chief Education Officer to various questions raised by the Committee;

(ii)      to otherwise note the content of the report and endorse the recommendations for improvement as agreed by the relevant function.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Internal Auditor which presented an audit in relation to the Pupil Equity Fund which was undertaken to provide assurance that schools were spending in accordance with their plans and that these were developed as required to close the poverty related attainment gap.

Councillor Townson sought guidance in relation to the staffing and whether they were existing staff taking up different roles or new recruits.  The Chief Education Officer advised that there was a mixture with some existing staff working in a management capacity and others were newly recruited.

Councillor Duncan and Councillor Graham sought guidance as to whether it would be more appropriate for spend across schools on particular items to be done centrally rather than by each school to ensure the overall spend for the cluster remained within contract.  The Chief Education Officer advised that she was working with the Chief Officer Finance to look at how this could be manged centrally to assist Head Teachers.

Councillor Allard sought guidance as to what support was in place for Head Teachers to enable them to be able to spend within the Academic year rather than the financial year.  The Chief Education Officer advised that the school improvement plans were now submitted earlier in year to enable Head Teachers to have the full year to spend the fund as per the improvement plans.

Councillor Lumsden sought clarification as to the figures used for calculating the Pupil Equity Fund.  The Chief Education Officer advised that the calculation was a complex one using both the 2014 and 2018 Health Living Surveys and that from the following year only the 2018 figures would be used.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note the responses from the Chief Education Officer to various questions raised by the Committee; and

(ii)      to otherwise note the content of the report and endorse the recommendations for improvement as agreed by the relevant function.