Council and councillors

To receive Report No.19/2016 from the Director for Resources.

Members are requested to bring their copy, distributed under separate cover.

·         The above report was presented at Cabinet on 12 January 2016.

·         Cabinet has requested that Scrutiny review and comment on proposals before the Cabinet meeting on 9 February 2016 so as to inform the decision-making process.

·         The report and its proposals and the date which it is presented to Cabinet may be amended following the outcome of the Scrutiny panel.  Scrutiny is therefore asked to consider the report and provide feedback to the Portfolio Holder and Director.

Report No. 19/2016, which was previously circulated under separate cover, was received from the Director of Resources.  The Assistant Director (Finance), Mr Della Rocca, introduced the report.   

During discussion the following points were noted:

a)    The Council’s overall financial position had changed since the Quarter 2 financial management report.

b)    The proposed plan to increase Council Tax by 3.99% would be the first increase in 6 years but would still leave a £2.4 million funding gap by 2019/20.

c)    Costs were increasing because of the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy, and changes in National Insurance Contributions and the Pension Fund Costs.

d)    The increase in the number of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding cases following the Supreme Court judgement in October 2015 and the rise in the ageing population had caused the budget to be increased from £30k to £150k. 

e)    £399k had so far been saved within the People Directorate.  The target was £300k.

f)     The 2015/16 ‘over-spend’ - in the Home Care budget - would be covered by the under-spend in the other services and budgets had been rebased from 2015/16 to cover this.

g)    The recruitment of good quality social workers was important to the service so funding was required to entice people to work in Rutland.

h)   The commissioning of services continued to be a high priority within the Directorate.  It is the intention for contracts to be commissioned on a Payment by Results (PBR) method so ensuring value for money.

i)     Public health costs were constantly being reviewed to ensure better value for money.

j)      The budget for the Better Care Fund had not yet been confirmed by Central Government so the budget was based on the 2015/16 figures.  This would be amended once the actual budget had been confirmed.

k)    Savings within the Better Care Fund would be rolled over into the next financial year in order to cover related costs if the targets were not met.  Any underspend would stay within the Better Care Fund, it could not be moved to cover another area.

l)     Adult Social Care Services would be supported by the 2% increase in Council Tax.  If there was no increase in Council Tax then savings would have to be found from other areas but not from front-line services.

m)  The number of vulnerable people requiring support in Rutland was rising so more efficiency was required to provide a good quality service while staying within the allocated budget.

---oOo---

Mr J Dale and Ms S Gullan-Whur arrived at 7.04 p.m.

---oOo---

n)   The budget for children’s oral health was £200k.  This included a one off payment of £50k in order to support a rising issue within Rutland.

---oOo---

Miss R Burkitt and Mr E Baines arrived.at 7.08 p.m.

---oOo---

AGREED:

1.    That the Panel NOTED the content of the Report.

2.    That the Panel NOTED the hard work that had gone into the Budget and the Medium Term Financial Plan.