Agenda and minutes

Items which in the opinion of the Chairman should be considered at the meeting as matters of urgency.

There was no item raised as a matter of urgency.

Members of the public may make representations/presentations on any substantive matter listed in the published agenda, as set out hereunder, relating to a specific matter or an examination of services or facilities provided or to be provided.

There were no oral representations received at the meeting from a member of the public.

The 2019/20 budget proposals will be scrutinised with consideration of relevant service

area budgets by individual Scrutiny Committees with the Corporate Infrastructure and Regulatory Services Scrutiny Committee considering both its own budget responsibilities as well as any issues raised by the Children’s Scrutiny Committee and also the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee, to produce an overarching series of recommendations.

This approach will enable all Scrutiny Members to critique, question and challenge the budget proposals across services, to better understand the implications of the budget proposals across the Council and to make effective recommendations to Cabinet and the Council.

The proceedings of all Scrutiny Committees will be webcast and publicised through normal channels including Twitter and other social media.

The Council must have full regard to and consider the impact of any proposals in relation to equalities prior to making any decisions, as set out in equality impact assessments, and any identified significant risks and mitigation action required.

Public Participation

Additionally, there will be an opportunity for members of the public to address each Scrutiny Committee meeting and make oral representations/presentations on any matter relating to the proposed budget, in line with the public participation scheme.

This Meeting

At this and other Scrutiny Committees in the current cycle, Members are asked to identify salient issues within each Committee’s areas of responsibility, to examine the general thrust of the budget and take an overview of priorities and prospects.

At this meeting Chief Officers / Heads of Services will report, inter alia, on:

·         the Cabinet’s Target Budget for services/suite of services;

·         how that compares to the target figure for 2019/20;

·         the likely implications of the 2019/20 target for individual areas of service (e.g. in percentage terms compared to current levels) and how those areas have been prioritised;

·         any comparisons between the current year and next year’s proposals for the major service areas, to illustrate the scale of change within those activities and how the budget has been allocated across services in those years (to illustrate changes of emphasis or priority);

·         any “alternative delivery models” or other initiatives contemplated for given services and how it is thought that these may reduce costs; and

·         impact assessments undertaken in relation to the draft budget.

Report and Budget 2019/20 Impact Assessment

Joint Report of the County Treasurer, the Chief Officer for Adult Care and Health Services and the Chief Officer for Communities, Public Health, Environment and Prosperity (CT/19/03) on the proposed budget for Adult Care and Health; and Public Health for 2019/20, attached.

[NB: An overview of the impact assessments for all service areas entitled ‘Budget 2019/20 Impact Assessment’ has also been made available to all Members of the Council in order that Scrutiny Committees may have access to all necessary equality impact assessments undertaken as part of the budget’s preparation.  The document will also be available at:

https://new.devon.gov.uk/impact/budget-2019-2020/

Members are requested to familiarise themselves with its contents, retaining it for future

meetings accepting that this is a dynamic process and individual assessments may necessarily be  ...  view the full agenda text for item 102.

(Councillor A Leadbetter attended in accordance with Standing Order 25 (1) and spoke to this item in regard to Adult Social Care and Health Services at the invitation of the Committee)

The Committee noted that the proposed budget for the 2019/20 financial year would be scrutinised by individual Scrutiny Committees, according to the remit set out in the Constitution.

The Chairs of the Children’s Scrutiny Committee and the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee would present any relevant resolutions and an overview of those issues arising to the Corporate Infrastructure and Regulatory Services Committee.  This Committee would also consider the draft budget proposals within its own remit, providing an opportunity for Scrutiny Members to comment on proposals for the Council’s Budget in its entirety. The resulting resolutions from Scrutiny will be reported to Cabinet and Council.

This would follow the opportunity for individual Scrutiny Committees – at this meeting – to have an initial overview of the budget proposals and examine them to identify any specific issues or areas of interest that might be considered at the Corporate Infrastructure and Regulatory Services Committee for incorporation into any recommendations to Cabinet and Council.

The Committee then considered the Joint Report of the County Treasurer, the Chief Officer for Adult Care and Health Services; and the Chief Officer for Communities, Public Health, Environment and Prosperity (CT/19/03) on the 2019/20 Budget including provisional financial settlement made by Government within the current and anticipated public sector funding regime and the spending targets set by the Cabinet for each service area which included inflation, commitment and service prioritisation reductions. The Report also detailed the proposed capital programme for 2019/20 for the Service. 

The Cabinet, at its meeting of 12th December 2018, had set Revenue Budget targets for 2019/20 which totalled £493.850 millions.  The targets incorporated inflation and pressures and income initiatives and savings required to set a budget within reduced funding levels provided by Government in the recent provisional financial settlement. This included funding for budget pressures of £33.353 millions that mainly related to additional expenditure to allow for service growth to cater for demographic changes such as increased children and adult service users and unavoidable cost pressures. Savings and income initiatives of £13.398 millions were required to set a balanced budget. The target for Adult Care and Health also included £5.045 millions in relation to the one-off Improved Better Care Fund (iBCF) grant announced by the Chancellor in March 2017.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer had presented the Budget to the House of Commons on the 29th October 2018; a month earlier than last year. The Budget contained additional funding for Local Government in both 2018/19 and 2019/20. The additional funding for the current year, 2018/19, was of a Capital nature and was set out in the Report. For 2019/20 the Chancellor announced an additional £650 millions of Revenue funding for Adult and Children’s Social Care. £410 millions was for a Social Care Support Grant that was being given in response to concerns nationally  ...  view the full minutes text for item 102.