Agenda

Members of the Council will declare any interests they may have in any item to be considered at this meeting, prior to any discussion taking place on that item.

The other registrable interests of Councillors of Devon County Council, arising from membership of City, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes. 

For details of District and or Town and Parish Twin Hatters – please see here:

County councillors who are also district, borough, city, parish or town councillors

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.

Overall Approach

The 2025/26 service area budgets will be scrutinised by the respective Overview and Scrutiny Committees, with the Corporate Infrastructure and Regulatory Services Scrutiny Committee considering both its own budget responsibilities as well as any welcomes, concerns and recommendations  raised by the Children’s Scrutiny Committee and the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee and will produce an overarching set of recommendations.

This approach enables all Scrutiny Members to question and challenge, as a critical friend, 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 Council.

The proceedings of all Scrutiny Committees will be livestreamed, publicised through normal channels, and will be open to the public.

The Council must have full regard to and consider the impacts of any proposals, as set out in impact assessments, and any identified risks and mitigating action required.

Public Participation

There will be an opportunity for members of the public to address each Scrutiny Committee meeting and make oral presentations on any matter relating to the proposed budget, in line with the Public Participation Scheme - https://www.devon.gov.uk/democracy/document/public-participation-at-committee-meetings/

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 make recommendations on an overview of priorities and prospects.

At this meeting Cabinet Members and Directors will report on

• the Cabinet’s Target Budget for Services and likely implications of the 2025/26 target for individual areas of service and how those areas have been prioritised;

• any comparisons between the current year and next year’s proposals for the 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 2025/26 Impact Assessment

Joint Report of the Director of Finance and Public Value and the Director of Integrated Adult Social Care and the Director of Public Health and Communities (DFP/25/05) on the proposed budget for Integrated Adult Social Care and Public Health for 2025/26, attached.

[NB: An overview of the impact assessments for all service areas entitled ‘Budget 2025/26 Impact Assessment’ has been made available to all Members of the Council so that Scrutiny Committees have access to all assessments undertaken as part of the budget’s preparation - available at Budget Impact Assessment 2025-26.]

Members are asked to consider the contents and retain it for future meetings, accepting that individual assessments will be updated where necessary before final proposals/decisions at Cabinet and Full Council. Members must have full regard to and consider the impact of any proposals in relation to equalities for this (and other) budget meetings prior to making any recommendations. Scrutiny Committees will no doubt  ...  view the full agenda text for item 5.