CONTROVERSIAL plans to reclaim £400,000 from schools in Gloucestershire need to be reviewed, a county council scrutiny committee has advised.

Members supported the principal of recovering excess savings taken from running cost budgets – or revenue budgets – to be redistributed across the county.

But they said the process that the Schools Forum statutory body used to develop the ‘clawback’ had significant flaws, especially around consultation, clarity and communication.

The plans, which were drawn up as part of a national government scheme, were criticised by some headteachers and governors, who claimed they were retaining the money for building projects.

Cllr Stephen McMillan, chairman of the children and young people’s scrutiny committee, said: "The scrutiny committee supports the principle of clawback, but the process this year has had significant shortcomings.

"Having taken the decision to claw back the money in March 2007, the Schools Forum didn’t instigate the consultation until February 2008 and then gave schools just three weeks to respond.

"The forum also received just six responses to the consultation, which wouldn’t seem to be representative."

The committee meeting at Shire Hall on Monday, November 17 also found there was a lack of clarity around the criteria for the clawback and the process.

"At the time of the consultation and even as late as September 2008, some schools were unaware of the criteria," said Cllr McMillan.

"When there is a lack of clarity, there needs to be an opportunity for face-to-face representation rather than relying on paper submissions, but this didn’t happen."

The committee also found that communication was not good enough because the forum did not check its information had been received by schools.

But Gillian Hayward, chairman of the Schools Forum, said the recommended clawback had been halved from £800,000 following an extended consultation with schools earlier this month.

"Reviewing the initial number of schools shows that the Schools Forum is listening to schools and responding to their concerns," she said.

The committee’s findings will be reported to Jackie Hall, lead cabinet member for children, to help her to decide whether to accept the forum’s plans.