Schools Finance & Procurement

Funding Formula for Schools

All Torbay’s maintained schools have a delegated budget which the governing body is required to spend for the purposes of their school. School budgets are calculated using a funding formula which is governed by national regulation. Each school's budget must be set at least to the level of the Minimum Funding Level, as determined by the Government.

Governing bodies, through the Schools Forum, are able to engage with the Council in the process of setting the Individual School Budget (ISB) from which each school's budget share and therefore delegated budget is drawn.

Governing bodies are required to produce an annual budget plan and must ensure that accurate accounts are kept and that income and expenditure returns conform to the Consistent Financial Reporting framework.

Whilst the Funding Formula allocates resources to schools for specific purposes, it is for schools to decide how the overall allocation should be spent. There is no requirement to spend at the level of budget allocated through the Formula for each school responsibility. Schools must ensure that any expenditure incurred is for the general purposes of the school, and in accordance with the conditions of the Council's Scheme for Financing Schools.

In respect of funding the education of pupils with special educational needs, additional guidance on funding responsibilities and other matters in the document titled Provision to meet special educational needs normally to be met from school funds and LEA central funds.

Schools are free to raise extra funds through voluntary contributions from parents, from letting of the school premises and other funding sources.

A link to an External Funding & Grants page can be found under the Related Pages panel, and links to External Funding, Funding, Online Procurement and Services to Schools websites can be found under the External Links panel.

Children, Schools and Families Data Collection

Each year, under Section 52 of the School Standards and Framework Act, 1998, the Council publishes a statement which sets out details of the planned and school budgets. This is now incorporated into a return known as 'Children, Schools and Families Data Collection' which covers nearly all of the expenditure on Childrens Services by the Local Authority. ' The latest return can be viewed and downloaded below (see Related Documents).

Traded Services for Schools

Torbay schools are able to buy a range of services offered by the Council, Devon County Council and through an alternative providers portfolio.

OPEN E-procurement

OPEN (Online Procurement for Educational Needs) is an e-procurement system that gives schools the opportunity to purchase goods and services online. It has been designed specifically for schools to make the process of buying goods and services faster, easier and simpler. It was developed by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and is operated in conjunction with their technical partner Proc Serve.

OPEN enables schools to search, compare and select goods and services from a wide range of suppliers nominated by their school or local authority.

The key elements of OPEN are:

it is an electronic marketplace with hosted catalogues and the ability to link to external suppliers' websites.
asupplier portal allows approved suppliers to upload catalogues to a single point, receive orders and send invoices.
allows access to pre-approved supplier maintained eCatalogues and DCSF approved deals. This will ensure that schools have access to collaborative contracts at regional and national level.
OPEN will employ security measures to protect information from access by unauthorised persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage.
funding has been secured from DCSF to pay all OPEN school charges up to March 2011.

Information for suppliers

There are no charges for connection to the system and no charges for uploading and maintaining the content of your catalogues.
Suppliers must be nominated either by a school or a local authority using the OPEN Marketplace. In addition to this, local authority preferred suppliers who have schools using the Marketplace will also qualify for inclusion.
Subject to nomination, suppliers will have access to purchasers from schools all over England, to offer contracts for goods and services not just to existing clients, but potentially new ones also.
If you are nominated, your organisation will receive a letter or email detailing how to register. The registration process will be online and will take approximately five minutes to complete.
There is only one website to upload catalogues to and these can be made visible to all customers. hus avoiding the need to contact each school individually with updates.
There is a fully functional supplier self service portal that lets any supplier transact completely electronically.
In addition to the downloadable supplier information packs within the OPEN supplier site there is a supplier helpdesk if you experience technical difficulties.

For further information including how to register your interest, please log on to the OPEN opens in a new window

website.

Related Websites

External Funding

Funding / Procurement

Online Procurement

Schoolquote

Services for Schools

Devon - Portfolio of Services to Schools

Contact Children's Services

Tel: 01803 201201
Email: csenquiries@torbay.gov.uk
Fax: 01803 208225

External Funding & Grants

Torbay Council

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