Local Authorities are required under section 52 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998| to prepare a Budget statement before the beginning of each financial year ie by 31 March. After the end of that financial year they are required to prepare an Outturn statement. Separate regulations and guidance apply to Budget statements. Section 230 of the Local Government Act 1972 also gives the Secretary of State powers to collect financial information in relation to the children’s services element of this data collection.
Section 52 gives the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families power to make regulations prescribing the form of these statements, their content, timing and manner of their publication.
The Statutory Instrument that embodies The Education (Outturn Statements) (England) Regulations 2009 will be accessible via the Financial Monitoring Team website from June 2009 when they come into force.
The forms to be used for financial reporting are supplied by the Secretary of State as electronic templates based on Microsoft Excel. Blank forms, identical to the Templates, are reproduced in the facsimile Regulations.
Regulatory provisions directly affecting the content of section 52 Outturn Statements are also made in the School Finance (England) Regulations 2008. Copies of this SI are available via Teachernet|:
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/docbank/index.cfm?id=12462|
Where guidance material in this document might be read in such a way as to conflict with any regulations currently in force, then the School Finance (England) Regulations 2008 take precedence.
Purpose of financial statements
It is a statutory duty that LAs must publish their outturn statements as and when prescribed by the section 52 and section 230 Regulations.
The statement is intended to:
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provide schools, parents and others with an interest in education and children services with details about schools and LA funding and expenditure;
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provide data for the Departmental Annual Report (DAR);
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inform policy making;
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inform the Treasury for monitoring purposes;
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inform Parliament in its role of monitoring the Department’s accountability for public funds. MPs ask about school and authority expenditure via the mechanisms of Parliamentary Questions or through the Education Select Committee.
It is important that schools forums and others have finance data available to them to inform debate about differing levels of expenditure between LAs and between schools. It is therefore essential that all statements are prepared to a common format.