Schools

Gareth Morgans – Director of Education and Children’s Services

To assist schools in identifying cost reductions and better ways of working, and support the development of more sustainable school budgets and help protect front line provision.

• To support schools in identifying ways of developing sustainable financial budgets in the short, medium and long term and ensure that this work is aligned with the Council’ Sustainable Learning Communities Programme.
• To engage Governing Bodies in discussions in relation to potential efficiencies and costs savings within school budgets.
• To develop a framework to share and disseminate good practice across schools.
• To work closely with key Council services to identify data and information which can be used to inform discussions with schools in relation to potential savings opportunities e.g. staffing structures, business support, class sizes.
• To further develop and enhance the role of strategic procurement within schools and to support the use of appropriate frameworks to ensure value for money from school expenditure.
• To support a re-modelling of the relationship between schools and key Council services in relation to areas of delegated spend e.g. property and grounds maintenance.
• To develop mechanisms to support data benchmarking across the county’s schools in relation to key areas of expenditure.
• To work with the Council’s HR Unit and Headteachers with a view to reducing expenditure relating to sickness absence, and recruitment and selection, including the use of supply teachers