Agenda item

Resolved: that the report be noted.

5.1    Mayor Egan introduced the item - noting the ongoing challenge of finding cuts to Council budgets for each of the past twelve years - combined with the array of pressing national and international issues.

5.2    Mayor Egan responded to questions from members attending under standing orders - the following key points were noted:

·         The Council was using its reserves in a responsible and limited way.

·         The Council evaluated its level of reserves against other local authorities – and was not an outlier.

·         It was expected that in the coming years the requirement to utilise reserves to balance the budget would reduce.

·         Work was taking place in adult social care to improve services and reduce costs.

·         There were challenges in children’s social care with increased demand, increasing costs and a large cohort of young people taken into care who were becoming care leavers.

·         Eight in ten local authorities were struggling with the costs of children’s social care. Work was taking place to try to mitigate some of these costs.

5.3    Kim Wright (Chief Executive) was invited to address the Committee - noting successes in the way the organisation had responded to challenges and changes over a number of years.

5.4    Kim Wright, Pinaki Ghoshal (Executive Director for Children and Young People), and Kathy Freeman (Executive Director for Corporate Resources) responded to questions from the Committee as well as members attending under standing orders - the following key points were noted:

·         It was intended that the budget was a collaborative endeavour - with all departments putting up savings but, this year there was a view that some parts of the Council had been so ‘hollowed out’ that they should not have to make any further savings.

·         The approach taken to try to protect frontline service by hollowing out corporate services was the right one at the time - but there came a point when this was not sustainable.

·         As part of the work to rebuild corporate services there would be a renewed focus on performance monitoring and evidence led service design.

·         Before the restructure of the finance teams there were potential issues with ‘grip and accountability’ in some financial functions.

·         Consideration had been given to providing free school meals for all school children - at a cost of £11m - but a decision had been taken to deliver the household support fund through schools – so that they could identify and support families most in need.

·         The local government financial settlement had been slightly better than expected - and this had been used to support budgets in several areas (including increased energy costs).

·         The reduction in the costs to the general fund for children’s centres was being offset by additional grant funding for family hubs.

5.5    Kathy Freeman (Executive Director for Corporate Resources) introduced the report - providing an overview of the decision-making process, noting the key elements of the report and emphasising the challenging financial climate.

5.6    Kathy Freeman and David Austin (Director of Finance) responded to questions from the Committee - the following key points were noted:

·         The Council had considered the council tax collection rate in previous years (as well as the rate of in-year collection) and had reduced the anticipated collection rate for the coming year.

·         It was expected that energy costs would reduce in the coming year. Energy had been purchased in advance for the coming year, but it was expected that the budget requirement would reduce for the following financial year.

·         The Council had created an energy efficiency role within the Council’s facilities management team. The opening hours of Council buildings were also being reduced to save on running costs.

·         Grant funding was being used more by Government over the past few years. Grants were not included in the base budget because they were only available for limited periods.

·         Consideration was being given to leaseholders’ major works bills - particularly given the strains present in the financial climate.

5.7    Councillor Luke Sorba (Chair of the Children and Young People Select Committee) addressed the Committee regarding proposed cuts to the youth service and to children and family centres. Councillor Sorba asked the Committee for its support in referring the cuts back to Mayor and Cabinet - in the context of the provisional local government financial settlement and the importance of preventative services for children and young people.

5.8    Kathy Freeman and Pinaki Ghoshal responded to the Comments of the Chair of the Children and Young People Select Committee - the following key points were noted:

·         Before the announcement of the provisional local government finance settlement, the Council was already facing significant risks and pressures - including the requirement to deliver on cuts proposals from previous years.

·         Not all the potential risks of inflation had been factored into the budget. A significant amount of work would be required to deliver more than £20m of savings in the coming year.

·         The Council continued to overspend in several areas.

·         It was recognised that difficult decisions had to be made in the restrained financial climate.

·         Children’s services had previously put significant resources into early help - but that help was not always effective, and the cost of unsuccessful preventative work was combined with large numbers of children entering social care.

·         A small number (27) of high-cost residential placements resulted in 30% of the placement budgets costs.

·         Despite high number of referrals to social care, fewer children were being taken into social care - which meant the numbers of children in care was significantly reducing.

·         Contract management meetings with Youth First would be used to encourage the organisation to access more funding from alternative sources to the Council and to focus on targeted support to the children and young people about which the Council had the most concerns. There was also an expectation that it should reduce its back-office costs.

·         It was not likely that Youth Service would cease to operate - but in that scenario there were other potential providers of youth services in the borough.

5.9    Councillor Amanda de Ryk (Cabinet Member for Finance and Strategy) addressed the Committee noting her thanks for members’ input and highlighting the difficult financial climate facing the Council.

5.10  In Committee discussions the following key points were also noted:

·         Members welcomed the input of the Children and Young People Select Committee - and were sympathetic to the comments of the Chair regarding the importance of early help and preventative services. Nonetheless, the Committee felt that - in the overall context of the financial situation facing the Council and the ongoing pressures on the budget - it could not support a referral to Mayor and Cabinet in opposition to the proposed budget cuts.

·         Members thanked officers for their work on the budget.

5.11  Resolved: that the report be noted.