Agenda item

(a)       That the Committee notes the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2019/20 Month 4 report and confirms that on this occasion there are no specific issues which it wishes to raise with Cabinet;

 

(b)       That the Committee notes the Capital Programme 2019/20 Month 4 report and confirms that on this occasion there are no specific issues which it wishes to raise with Cabinet;

 

(c)       That having reviewed to the Streetscene & Transportation portfolio financial pressures analysis, the Committee supports the ongoing work to mitigate those pressures and thanks all those involved for their hard work and commitment;

 

(d)       That having reviewed the portfolio financial pressures analysis within Children’s Services and Out of County placements, the Committee supports the ongoing work to mitigate those pressures and thanks all those involved for their hard work and commitment;

 

(e)       That the Committee supports a case being made to Welsh Government for assistance in meeting the high cost of residential care for children with complex needs whilst the Council develops more cost effective local placement options to respond to growing demand;

 

(f)        That the officers be tasked with investigating ‘invest to save’ solutions to reducing overall costs within these areas of concern; and

 

(g)       That the officers undertake analysis of the statistics for Flintshire’s higher recorded incidents of parental substance or alcohol misuse, parental mental ill health and domestic abuse and report back in due course.

The Corporate Finance Manager presented a report on the revenue budget monitoring position for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and an update on the Capital Programme of 2019/20 at month 4.  As requested, a report on the significant variances in Out of County Placements, Children’s Services and School Transport was also shared.

 

Revenue Budget Monitoring

 

On the Council Fund, the projected year-end position - without new actions to reduce cost pressures and improve the yield on efficiency planning - was an operating deficit of £2.983m, which was a reduction of £0.118m from July.  The projected balance for contingency reserves at year-end was £1.886m.  The overspend areas for Out of County Placements, Children’s Services and School Transport were partially offset by an underspend in Central and Corporate Finance.  A balanced outturn was projected for Social Services if Cabinet approved the recommended transfer of £0.250m to Adult Services from Resources & Regulated Services to meet changes in service demand.  All areas of non-essential spend would continue to be reviewed to reduce the overall projected year-end overspend.

 

The projected 90% achievement rate on projected planned in-year efficiencies would increase to 91% if Cabinet agreed to re-phase the efficiency from the Aura Subsidy.

 

Following changes to the report format, an update on school pressures indicated the position on deficits in secondary schools which would be closely monitored.

 

On the HRA, in-year spend was projected to be £0.081m higher than budget, leaving a year-end balance of £1.242m which was above the recommended minimum level.

 

In welcoming the change of report format, Councillor Heesom questioned why the un-earmarked reserves for the Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS) Approving Body and the Victim Contact Team were not under their portfolio areas.  The Chief Executive explained that both had been included as pressures in the 2019/20 budget - as agreed by Members - and that these additional amounts would meet new legislative requirements and increase capacity to meet the needs of vulnerable young people.  The Corporate Finance Manager confirmed that the amounts were allocated to Social Services from the Contingency Reserve in-year.  Officers agreed to provide a future report on the costs involved with SuDS.

 

In response to Councillor Jones’ comments on the report format, it was clarified that the table set out the overall position and the narrative would focus on significant variances above an agreed level of £0.100m, with full details of all variances in the appendix.  The Chief Officer (Social Services) spoke about minimising the use of agency workers in his portfolio which was often unavoidable.

 

The recommendations were moved by Councillor Wisinger and seconded by Councillor Heesom.

 

Capital Programme

 

The revised programme included two approved sums carried forward from 2018/19 and a number of changes along with confirmed funding allocations.  There were two requests for carry-forward into 2020/21 and additional allocations were mainly due to changes in existing programmes.  Confirmation was awaited from Welsh Government (WG) on a grant funding bid in relation to the £0.350m pressure to address the impact of flooding on the highway network.  If received, this would leave a funding shortfall of £1.230m for approved schemes in 2019/20.

 

On investment in county towns, explanation was given to Councillor Jones on the classification of towns as previously agreed.

 

Councillor Heesom commended the work undertaken by teams in response to local flooding.

 

The recommendations were moved by Councillor Heesom and seconded by Councillor Bateman.

 

Significant Variances in School Transport

 

Members were introduced to the Service Delivery Manager, Highways & Waste (Katie Wilby) who presented the report on significant variances on School Transport.  She was joined by the Integrated Transport Unit Manager (Ceri Hansom); and Regulatory Services Manager (Ruth Cartwright).

 

There were a number of reasons for the overspend including historic non-statutory school transport arrangements which were being phased out following Cabinet approval in 2018.  The income received from concessionary fares offered in the interim did not meet the full cost and an increase in contract prices since the loss of a bus operator was a further impact.  There were also financial implications arising from the timing of the school year and a rise in pupil numbers.  Increased demand for transport for Out of County Placements was also a factor, involving some individuals with complex needs who required solo journeys or specialist vehicles.

 

Officers summarised progress on a range of mitigating actions, as detailed in the report, including reassessing higher value contracts and contract arrangements to achieve value for money.  Other actions involved exploring in-house transport options and liaising with Education colleagues to forecast changes in demand.

 

The Chief Executive said that there was no further mitigation beyond the actions and that there would be a significant overspend at year-end.  This pressure would be factored into the budget for 2020/21 and work with Education teams would help to forecast the longer term position.

 

In response to comments from Councillor Heesom, the Integrated Transport Unit Manager provided an overview of work to address the historical anomalies.  Low demand for concessionary passes meant that many households were finding alternative school transport solutions and capacity on those subsidised services would be reviewed.  Councillor Thomas paid tribute to the Manager for her work on this.

 

In thanking officers for the detailed report, Councillor Jones acknowledged the actions in place to address the issues, most of which could not have been predicted.

 

The Chief Executive said that more flexibility was needed on budgets to manage changes in service demand.  In the absence of further mitigation, the overspend would need to be resolved corporately.  He expressed his thanks to the team who had worked through the anomalies.

 

Significant Variances in Social Services and Out of County Placements

 

The Chief Officer (Social Services) presented the report on significant variances in Social Services and Out of County Placements (OCP) which had been considered at the recent joint Education & Youth and Social & Health Care Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting.

 

The 30% rise in demand for Children’s Services over the past two years reflected a 57% increase in the number of looked after children over the past eight years.  The most significant factor was that levels of parental substance/alcohol misuse, parental mental ill health and domestic abuse across the County (the recognised ‘trigger trio’) were all above the Wales average.  Another influence was the exploitation of young people through County Lines which, although a national issue, was a particular risk for Flintshire due to its geographical location.

 

Joint working across Social Services and Education had helped to reduce the number of OCP over the past year, however there were financial implications from the increasing number of complex cases.

 

There was no single solution to the financial pressures due to the number of external factors outside the Council’s control.  The Chief Officer summarised some of the activities taking place to make some impact: these included a multi-agency forum to target exploitation, the introduction of new incentives to attract new foster carers and exploring options for additional local placements.  In highlighting OCP as a nationwide issue, he spoke about the approach being taken by the Council to manage these pressures whilst maintaining the quality of offer to young people.

 

Councillor Richard Jones agreed that OCP was an issue for all councils and financial support from WG was required.  He suggested that greater focus could be placed on the ‘trigger trio’ to target the causes.

 

In highlighting the scale of the challenge, the Chief Executive spoke about the breadth of work such as pursuing local accommodation options and extending the fostering network, whilst recognising the cost of providing quality services and the vulnerability of Flintshire’s location.

 

Councillor Richard Jones called for representations to be made to WG and was told that during a recent visit, the Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services had commended the Council’s approach to tackling these significant issues.  The Chief Executive said that this formed part of the case on support for high-demand services and should incorporate capital/revenue options currently being explored by officers to demonstrate innovative solutions.

 

The Senior Manager (Children & Workforce) welcomed discussions with Health colleagues on a changing approach to diagnosing the behaviour of young people to provide support in a different way.  In response to comments on the varying costs of foster care provision, he referred to new ways of attracting foster carers and the development of a national framework in Wales.

 

Councillor Heesom spoke about recognition of Flintshire’s position as a border County.

 

As Cabinet Member, Councillor Christine Jones said that Flintshire - as a foster friendly Council - was introducing incentives to encourage new foster carers.  She went on to refer to the widespread impact of County Lines and Universal Credit, and the preventative work being undertaken by the Council and Community Safety Partnership.

 

Councillor Cunningham praised the work of the teams in the context of the financial challenges.  Whilst supporting initiatives to tackle the causes of the increased demand for services, he highlighted the importance of individual responsibility.

 

Councillor Richard Jones spoke about the importance of understanding the data.  He proposed an additional recommendation to acknowledge that the causes of mental health issues should be given more focus.

 

The Chief Executive said that investment in preventative work was a priority together with the development of more local cost-effective solutions.  Budget pressures for both areas were built into the forecast for 2020/21 and would be monitored.  Non-essential spend in each portfolio was being re-assessed to determine the impact on reserves at year-end.

 

In updating the Committee on discussions with the Welsh Local Government Association, the Chief Executive said that clarity was awaited on whether the costs for teachers’ pay and pensions was already included in the base budget and therefore outside the £593m additional revenue given to WG from the spending review.  An update on the budget position would be reported to the Committee.

 

Councillor Banks paid tribute to all the officers for their hard work on both reports.

 

Councillor Richard Jones proposed that the recommendations reflect the debate and points raised.  This was seconded by Councillor Heesom.

 

RESOLVED:

 

(a)       That the Committee notes the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2019/20 Month 4 report and confirms that on this occasion there are no specific issues which it wishes to raise with Cabinet;

 

(b)       That the Committee notes the Capital Programme 2019/20 Month 4 report and confirms that on this occasion there are no specific issues which it wishes to raise with Cabinet;

 

(c)       That having reviewed to the Streetscene & Transportation portfolio financial pressures analysis, the Committee supports the ongoing work to mitigate those pressures and thanks all those involved for their hard work and commitment;

 

(d)       That having reviewed the portfolio financial pressures analysis within Children’s Services and Out of County placements, the Committee supports the ongoing work to mitigate those pressures and thanks all those involved for their hard work and commitment;

 

(e)       That the Committee supports a case being made to Welsh Government for assistance in meeting the high cost of residential care for children with complex needs whilst the Council develops more cost effective local placement options to respond to growing demand;

 

(f)        That the officers be tasked with investigating ‘invest to save’ solutions to reducing overall costs within these areas of concern; and

 

(g)       That the officers undertake analysis of the statistics for Flintshire’s higher recorded incidents of parental substance or alcohol misuse, parental mental ill health and domestic abuse and report back in due course.