Decision details

A report providing an update of the Council’s position in relation to the teacher numbers commitment made as part of the financial settlement for 2015/16 with the Scottish Government was considered.  The report outlined the exceptional efforts made by the Council to try to meet the commitment, a range of other issues which have impacted on the ability of the council to recruit and retain teaching staff and the extraordinary measures used to improve teacher recruitment.

Decision

The Committee:-

1.    noted the commitment to maintain overall teacher numbers and pupil : teacher ratio at 2014/15 levels as part of the 2015/16 budget settlement;

2.    noted the level of supernumerary teaching posts above the staffing entitlement model that the Council require to retain to meet this commitment;

3.    noted the efforts made by the Council to recruit sufficient teachers to meet the commitment on the date of the census in September 2015 whilst addressing additional national policy ambitions (eg Raising attainment for all);

4.    noted the other factors which impacted on the Council’s ability to meet the teacher number commitment;

5.    noted that the Council was unable to recruit sufficient teaching staff despite considerable efforts to meet the commitment which potentially will result in the loss of some or all of the share of the Scottish Government’s additional £51m resources to maintain teacher numbers;

6.    noted that this potential loss of additional grant may be mitigated by deleting supplementary teacher posts with a resultant full year saving of c. £1.57m;

7.    noted that no class in any Argyll and Bute school could not be staffed despite the national shortage of teachers due to the application of an efficient and equal staffing model at the commencement of session 2015/2016; and

8.    agreed that the issue of teacher numbers commitment be referred to the Policy and Resources Committee for consideration of the financial implications arising from the position represented in this report.

(Reference: Report by Executive Director – Community Services dated 12 November 2015, submitted)