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On 16 February 2026 the Scrutiny Performance Panel for Education considered the education part of Swansea Council's annual budget with the Cabinet Member for Education and Learning, Robert Smith, and the Director of Education, Helen Morgan-Rees. The Panel agreed a set of views to send to Cabinet on school funding, grants, school reserves, the music service, the capital programme and energy costs.
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Letters were noted by the Panel.
No public questions were received.
The Panel thanked Roberts Smith (Cabinet Member for Education and Learning), Helen Morgan Rees (Director of Education) and Kelly Small (Head of Education Planning and Resources) for attending the meeting and outlining the key aspects of this years Annual Budget proposals as they relate to education matters.
The Education Scrutiny Performance Panel agreed the following views on the budget proposals in relation to education and schools it would like to make to Cabinet: · We welcome the 5.7% uplift for the delegated schools budget which represented an increase of £12.63 million. · We would like to place on record our appreciation for the excellent work that schools do, often in a very challenging environment. · We noted the letter from the school budget forum and concerns that that they raised. In particular about the level of funding for Additional Learning Needs and Education Other Than At School given the demand led increases, which we understand are difficult to project and plan for. · We would support the lobbying of Welsh Government in relation to grant funding, which by its very nature creates a level of instability. We support the need for further mainstreaming into core school funding thus replacing grant funding in these areas. · Concern was expressed about the different levels of school reserves across the school estate. We understand the education department continue to look at this issue and appreciate there is no easy solution but it is something that needs to be addressed. · Concern was also expressed about the buyback level for the music service provision and were pleased to note that the cost to schools will not increase this year and that work is ongoing to address this issue. · We were pleased to hear the capital programme for education is on track in light of the increasing costs of goods and services. · We noted the contribution into the cost of energy now formed part of the core budget, and the Panel emphasised the need to look at ways to reduce the energy costs through, for example, green energy. We noted that this work is progressing.
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